Love and Trust
by passions-spent
Summary: Rogan: Rory hadn't expected to befriend Tristan Dugrey or to end up spending the summer with his family after sleeping with her married exboyfriend. And she certainly hadn't expected to fall for Logan Huntzberger when she returned to Yale.
1. Prologue

The nightlife streamed around her, a mixture of scantily dressed and half drunk college students but Rory Gilmore ignored it. She was curled up on a hard plastic pool chair, the same spot that she had sat down on almost a half an hour ago. Her contemplations for moving had long since disappeared and she remained seated, her eyes glued on the drink held in her hand. The air was warm and she felt comfortable only dressed in a tank top and denim skirt. Bringing the cup up to her mouth, she took a long sip, letting the alcohol burn its way down her throat and wished that she had thought to bring a book. Spring Break was supposed to be wild and fun especially for a college freshman like herself but it really wasn't her scene and unfortunately she had realized this too late.

She had lost sight of Paris ages ago, last time she had seen her she was flirting with one of the only sober college guys at this party. Rory wasn't worried though; Paris was a big girl and could take care of herself, not to mention that she could make a grown man cry without breaking a sweat. Rory's sanctuary in the corner of the party on the uncomfortable chair had been found after hours of aimlessly wandering around the pool-side party, dodging propositions from leering guys. Eventually she had got tired and had flopped down on the first available chair, not leaving since. The music was starting to hurt her ears but she didn't want to leave, didn't want to admit defeat by going back to her hotel room. Rory Gilmore was determined to prove that she could handle Spring Break in Florida.

Taking another sip of her drink, she frowned when she realized that it was empty. Sighing, she decided to take this as a sign and she stood up, stumbling a little bit and trying to stretch out her sore muscles. Making her way to the bar, she avoided going near the pool, knowing that drunk people and bodies of water don't mix. She signaled to the bar tender to refill her drink, smiling slightly when he nodded and winked in her direction, ignoring the guy that he had just been talking to. It made her a little uncomfortable but at the same time, and this was probably the alcohol talking, it made her feel special. The guy who the bartender had snubbed turned towards the girl who had caused him to wait for his drink.

"Mary?" He asked in disbelief. The brunette girl leaning against the bar didn't turn; instead she remained watching the crowd, a small frown on her face. He thought for a minute, trying to remember her name, knowing that her real name hadn't been Mary. It had been years since he had last seen or talked to her and he had tried to forget the majority of his past after the hell that was military school. Before he could open his mouth to say more a voice cut in.

"Rory! There you are!"

He watched Rory turn towards the girl, a small smile appearing on her face. "Hey Paris, having fun yet?"

He definitely remembered Paris, how could he not? "Paris Gellar." He stated a smirk on his face. The other girl's name suddenly occurred to him and he felt like an idiot for forgetting. "And Rory Gilmore. It's been awhile." Both girls turned to face him after hearing their names.

"Tristan Dugrey?" Paris asked in disbelief. Tristan inwardly chuckled at the looks on their faces.

"That would be me." He paused, looking over at Rory who was still staring at him in shock. "My gorgeous looks shock you into silence, Mary?" He leered jokingly at her, prompting her into surprised laughter. She looked at him curiously, wondering how he got her to laugh when up until recently she had been having a miserable time.

"Anyway," Paris turned back to Rory, effectively ignoring Tristan. "I'm going to stay here for a while; you looked bored so I thought that I would tell you not to wait for me."

Rory looked amused and exchanged a look with Tristan. "Sure Paris, just don't do anything I wouldn't do." Paris hugged her quickly before turning to the boy standing beside her.

"Good to see you again Dugrey. We should catch up sometime. I'm assuming that your mother has your phone number?" She didn't wait for a response. "I'll call you." With that she walked away.

"She never changes, does she?" Tristan looked at Rory who laughed softly, nodding in agreement. "But you have, haven't you?" He gestured towards her somewhat revealing outfit.

Rory scoffed. "What, because of how I'm dressed? Clothes don't make the person Tristan."

"Ah but naked people have little or no influence on society."

"Mark Twain, Dugrey? I'm impressed, maybe you've changed." She gave him an appraising look.

"What, because I know some quote from an author? Intelligence doesn't make the man, Rory." He grinned; he had missed these moments with her. Not waiting for a response, he changed the subject. "No book tonight?"

She sighed. "No, I forgot." Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Same as you, I'm guessing. Studies got to be too much and I needed a break. A couple friends of mine were heading down here and had space in their car so I tagged along."

Rory nodded and took a sip of her drink. She didn't know what to say to this man that she hadn't talked to since the middle of high school. "So how have things been going lately?"

"Lately as in since I left Chilton?"

She shrugged. "Sure, how have things been going since you left for military school?"

"I can't complain. Well actually I can but I wouldn't think that you would want to listen to me if I did."

Rory laughed, surprised that she was enjoying herself with someone that she hadn't talked to or thought of in years. "That's true."

Tristan grinned in response, putting his hands in his pockets and surveying the party around him. This didn't seem like her scene and he could tell that she was uncomfortable. "Do you want to get out of here?"

She stiffened and glared at him, putting down her drink. "Wow, and here I had thought that you had changed."

"No, no, no, not like that. I wanted to know if you wanted to get a cup of coffee or something. We could catch up or something."

She sighed. "We were never friends Tristan; we don't have anything to catch up on."

"Exactly! We weren't friends but we could change that. C'mon, if I wasn't such a jerk to you when we were younger, don't you think that we would've been friends?"

"Maybe but we weren't then and we aren't now."

"Just come for coffee with me Rory. If you get uncomfortable and want to leave you can. Just for old time sakes and now you can say that you honestly tried to be friends with me."

She looked thoughtful for a minute, weighing the pros and cons in her head. "Okay," she said finally. "But I'm not staying long."

He nodded, not having expected anything else. They walked out of the party together that night, and thus began one of Rory's defining friendships in her life.

The two of them became friends after that to both of their surprises. At the end of the night, he walked her to her hotel room door, giving her a slip of paper with his number and email on it and told her to call him sometime. Despite this, he was still surprised when he heard from her almost a week later and they talked for hours about nothing and everything at the same time. Somehow, despite the personality clashes and the distance, the two of them had become close friends and they wouldn't give that up for the world.

-

Tristan Dugrey walked into his house, duffel bag slung on his shoulder. The rest of the boxes that he had packed up from his dorm room were in his car but he decided not to bring them inside yet. Time spent with his family was never civil and he didn't want to bring in his stuff only to take them back outside once everything fell apart. Dropping his bag and kicking off his shoes in the hallway, careful to leave them out of the way, he made his way towards the formal living room where he knew his mom would be.

His house was exactly as he remembered it; cold and unwelcome. He hated it here, hated what it represented, and hated how small and insignificant it made him feel. In the years since he was sent away, he probably hadn't spent more than two weeks here but that was all going to change this summer. For some reason that was currently escaping him, he had decided to spend his summer here, decided to face his family head on. Almost immediately after pulling up in his driveway he had regretted his decision but it was too late to turn back.

"Tristan!" He looked up to see his impeccably made-up mother stand up from the couch that she had been sitting and opening her arms. He let her hug him not because he wanted to but because it was expected and he knew that it would be rude not to. Tristan Dugrey was anything but rude.

"Hello mother," he replied, pressing his lips chastely to her cheek and quickly pulling out of her embrace.

Cynthia Dugrey sighed as she watched her son and only child walk out the door after mumbling something about getting his stuff from the car. She knew that their relationship was horrible and that he hated spending time with her and her husband but she hoped that it would change. She wanted to be the kind of mother where her son could come to talk about anything, the kind of mother that Tristan deserved. She might not have been there for him growing up but she would definitely be there for him now.

Eric Dugrey stepped into his living room, newspaper in hand and slipped an arm around his still wife. "So Tristan's here? I saw his car in the driveway."

Cynthia nodded in response. After a moment she whispered almost inaudibly, "Does he hate us?"

He sighed and pressed his lips against her temple. "We haven't gone about anything thing right so far Cyn, I wouldn't blame him if he did." He tightened his arms around her. "But that's going to change this year, okay? It'll be a fresh start for all of us."

Dinner that night was an awkward rather stilted affair and Tristan wished that he could be anywhere but at the table that night. He could tell that his parents were trying, that they wanted them to be a family but he knew that he couldn't just forget almost sixteen years of neglect. It was with great relief that he excused himself from the table that night, claiming that he was tired from his trip. He could see his parents exchange sad glances as he left but he ignored them; he wasn't in the mood to be nice.

It was late when the doorbell echoed through the house, jerking Cynthia out of her sleep. Glancing at the clock, she let out a rather unladylike groan before climbing out of bed and grabbing her robe on her way to the door. She was an extremely light sleeper and knew that neither Eric nor Tristan would have woken at the noise. She padded through the hallway, her bare feet slapping against the cool tile until she reached the front door and opened it, revealing a rather distraught girl.

"Are you okay?" Cynthia asked immediately, feeling rather silly for saying it right after the words came out. It was obvious that the young girl was not alright.

The girl looked up, fidgeting with her t-shirt. "Is Tristan here?" She whispered.

"Of course." Cynthia gently guided the girl into the house. The house seemed too quiet, only filled with the girl's occasionally sniffs. "I'm Cynthia," she said finally, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm Rory," the girl replied, wiping at her palms against her cheek. "I'm so sorry for waking you up, I wasn't thinking."

Cynthia shook her head. "I wasn't sleeping." At Rory's doubtful look she sighed. "Okay I was sleeping but obviously you're more important." She paused for a minute. "How do you know my son?"

They were now in the living room and Cynthia led Rory towards a couch and gestured for her to sit.

"It's kind of a long story. But the short version is that we're friends."

Tristan's mother nodded, it was reassuring to know that her son had people that cared for him and were cared for in return. "I'll go get him," she said, making her way out of the room.

Rory nodded. "Thanks." She looked embarrassed for a minute. "It's nice to finally meet you; sorry it wasn't under better circumstances."

Cynthia waved her concerns away. "Hold on, I'll just be a minute."

She made her way up the stairs and down the dark hall until she reached Tristan's room. Gently pushing open the door and walking to her son's bedside, she softly pushed the hair back from his face and shook him. He didn't wake immediately nor did she expect him to. Smiling slightly, she shook him harder and her mind flashed back to when she would wake him up in the mornings when he was younger. Rolling over, he groaned annoyed, pulling a pillow over to cover his head.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Someone's here to see you," she told him softly, moving away from the bed. She knew that he didn't like being close to her, that he didn't regard her as much.

"It's late, I'm tired. Tell them to come back in the morning." He rolled over, considering the issue closed. His mom usually let him have his way and he didn't expect this time to be any different.

"She looks upset, Tristan. I think you should go downstairs."

He raised his head a little from the pillow. "Who is it?"

"She says her name's Rory."

Tristan's eyes shot open and he pulled himself out of bed. He was only wearing his boxers as per usual and so he grabbed a t-shirt on his way to the door. "Is she okay? Is she hurt?"

Cynthia shook her head. "She's upset; I don't know what happened though." She paused for a second, thinking things over. "Tell her that she can stay for a while if she needs it."

He nodded, not really listening and raced downstairs. He realized when he reached the landing that he didn't know where she was. Hazarding a guess, he headed for the living room and was rewarded with Rory Gilmore's tear-stained face greeting him.

"Mare," he whispered when he reached her, causing tears to slide down her face faster than ever. "What's wrong?" He wiped the liquid off her cheeks and pulled her into his arms after sitting on the couch.

"I'm sorry I woke you up, I wasn't thinking. I should go." Rory started to stand up, ready to leave but Tristan pulled her back down into his arms.

"It's fine really." He smoothed a hand over her hair. "I'll be there for you whenever you need me, you know that."

She nodded, before more tears came and she choked on a sob. "I made a mistake, a huge mistake. I'm an idiot, my mom hates me, and I hate me." Tristan just pulled her closer, letting her cry into his chest as she detailed the events that had happened with Dean earlier that night.

It was hours later that she drifted off to sleep, half on Tristan, and half on the couch. He didn't care that his right side was falling asleep, that he was tired himself. Rory was one of his best friends and he would do anything for her. He hated Dean for what he had done, hated him for making his friend cry. He sighed and pushed the hair back from her sleeping face.

"Is she okay?" Cynthia spoke from the doorway. She had been watching the two of them for about five minutes now and could see her son's devotion to the girl.

Tristan didn't look up. "Not at the moment, but she will be." His voice was low and soft.

She nodded. "Let me know if you need anything. I set up the guest bedroom beside your room for her just in case. Make sure that she knows that she's welcome here."

He nodded in response, not commenting that he would be surprised if Rory felt welcome here, he sure didn't and he had lived here for his whole childhood. "I will thanks."

She left the room and Tristan sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the back of the couch until he eventually fell asleep.

Hours later, Rory woke up slowly. Her eyes felt heavy and her hair felt damp. Disoriented and confused, it took her a minute for her to realize where she was and what she was doing there.

"Hey, you're awake." Cynthia walked into the room, this time dressed in more than a robe. She kept her voice low as Tristan was still sleeping. "Do you want some coffee? I just made some."

Rory nodded in response and got up from the couch, careful not to wake up Tristan in the process. She followed Cynthia through the house until they reached the kitchen where a fresh pot of coffee was waiting. Cynthia gestured towards the pot and the mugs sitting beside it and sat down at the kitchen table next to a man reading the paper.

"This is my husband Eric. Eric this is Tristan's friend Rory."

Eric lowered his paper slightly and smiled uncomfortably at Rory. "It's nice to meet you." He gestured for her to sit at the table and when she did he handed her a piece of his newspaper. She smiled in response, picking up the editorial section that he had given her and started to read.

This is how Tristan found his family almost half an hour later when he stumbled into the kitchen. His mind was still kind of muddled from sleep and he didn't say anything until he had poured himself a mug of coffee and had taken a sip.

"Good morning." He looked confusedly at Rory who seemed to have fit into his family perfectly without even trying.

"'Morning," Rory replied, smiling and feeling more like normal. She knew that she probably looked awful and that she would have to face reality eventually but somehow she felt like everything would be okay.

"Hello Tristan," Eric said, looking up from his paper and smiling at his son.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Cynthia put in and gestured to the fridge behind him. "There's lots of food in the fridge, in case you're hungry. I noticed that you didn't eat much last night at dinner."

Tristan nodded his thanks, still surprised at the maternal characteristics that his mother was displaying. He turned his gaze to Rory. "How are you?" He asked softly.

She smiled slightly. "I'm better, thanks. I'm sorry for waking you all up so late last night; I wasn't thinking."

Tristan was about to argue but his father cut him off. "Don't be sorry Rory. You're welcome here whenever you want, no matter the time." Cynthia nodded in agreement. "Actually we were about to offer that if you wanted to you could stay with us until everything is sorted out." Eric and Cynthia didn't know exactly what had upset Rory so much but they could guess and they knew that she might want to stay for a while.

Their son looked in shock at his parents. They had barely ever let him have friends over when he was younger, instead insisting that they didn't have time to look after other people's children. Tristan never disputed this, preferring instead to get away from his house and his family. It was almost unheard of for the Dugreys to invite someone voluntarily to stay at their house.

Rory's mind flashed to what was waiting for her in Stars Hollow. She thought of seeing Dean and Lindsay everyday and the awkward situation with her mother. As she opened her mouth to respond, she didn't realize that her answer would change everything. "I'd love to, thanks."

-

Rory stared down at the cell phone in her hand. After eating breakfast with Tristan and his family, she had excused herself to shower and call home to tell her mom about her new summer plans. The shower part had been easy; the phoning home, not so much. She sighed and leaned back into the couch, dreading this call but knowing that she had to. Her mom was probably worried sick especially since she had left so hastily the previous night. Finally she punched the numbers into the phone and held it up to her ear, taking a deep breath.

"Rory?" Her mom answered, picking up almost immediately.

"Hey mom."

"Hey mom? Hey mom? That's all you can say? I was worried sick!"

Rory took another deep breath, trying to stop the tears from coming. "I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just couldn't handle it, I'm such an idiot."

On the other end of the phone Lorelai sighed. "You're not an idiot sweetie, we all make mistakes. But that doesn't mean that you should just up and leave without informing your mother first."

"I wasn't thinking." Rory paused. "Forgive me?"

"Of course I'll forgive you." She thought for a minute. "Where are you?"

"Tristan's house." She hesitated. "That's actually why I'm calling."

"You didn't just call to stop me from continuing with my panic attack when I realized that you weren't in your bed when I woke up?"

Rory laughed softly, knowing that Lorelai wouldn't be so happy once she told her that they weren't spending the summer together. "That too. But the Dugreys have been great and they kind of offered that I could stay here this summer and I kind of accepted." She said the last part in a rush.

There was silence on the other end.

"Mom?"

"Is this because of Dean? Because you shouldn't just leave because of him! It was your town first Rory; everybody loves you. They'll all be on your side, nobody will blame you."

"That's the problem. I just, I don't know, don't feel like being there when everyone realizes that I'm not perfect, you know? And I know that that seems stupid to say because I'm not perfect, but I just want some air, some room to breath."

For a moment there was silence, but then Lorelai spoke. "The only way you can get some air is away from me?"

"No, mom! It has nothing to do with you. I just need to get away and be someone else for a while. You understand, don't you?" Rory's voice was pleading and desperate.

Lorelai sighed. "Yeah kid, I understand." She paused. "But I can still see you right?"

"Everyday if you want," Rory agreed, relieved that this was over.

"So how big is their house anyway?" Lorelai finally asked, settling down in her couch, ready for a long talk with her daughter.

Rory laughed, happy that things hadn't changed with her mother, happy that there was still one constant in her life.

-

Rory looked around the guest bedroom, now her room. Her stuff was scattered everywhere as she hadn't had time to unpack completely yet. She knew that she had made the right decision to stay, knew that this was the best option for her to choose. Turning around when there came a knock on the doorframe, Rory was met with the face of Cynthia Dugrey.

"Unpacking?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the catastrophe at her feet.

Rory nodded and laughed. "It's a work in progress." She looked down, suddenly shy. "Thanks for letting me stay here Mrs. Dugrey, it means a lot."

Cynthia laughed. "Call me Cynthia, Rory and it's no problem. You mean a lot to Tristan and so we're happy to have you here."

"He means a lot to me too, he's a great guy. You and Eric must be proud of him."

Tristan's mother nodded. "Yeah, we are. Immensely proud of him." Suddenly emotional she swiped at her eyes and was hit with inspiration. "I was planning on going shopping this weekend; do you maybe want to come along?"

Rory looked unsure for a moment, knowing what Tristan's relationship with his parents was like. She could see the desperation in Cynthia's eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Okay, great!" The smile on Cynthia's face could have lit up the whole room. "I'll leave you to your unpacking." As quickly as she had come she was done, leaving a faint trail of her perfume behind.

Rory sighed, looking down at the unpacked bags in front of her. This summer was the start of something new, something different, she could feel it. For once she didn't run from the unknown, she ran towards it and she knew that it was the right choice.

-

That summer at the Dugrey house was spent mostly just the four of them and occasionally Lorelai and they wouldn't have had it any other way. In a family where feelings were kept hidden and nothing of great importance was imparted, it was nice to have Rory there, someone who wore their heart on their sleeve. Eric and Cynthia had become immensely fond of their son's friend, soon coming to look at her as if she was their own daughter. It was because of Rory that Tristan finally developed a good relationship with his parents and because of Rory that everything changed for the better in the Dugrey household.

The end of the summer was bittersweet. Rory was back off to Yale for her second year while Tristan was off to Princeton for his. Eric and Cynthia were back to their lives, disappointed to be back to reality after their summer. They had made both Tristan and Rory promise to come to monthly dinners to spend time together as a family, ignoring the fact that technically Rory wasn't family. That summer was the beginning of something more than any of them could ever have imagined and it changed them all for the better, preparing them all for what was to come.


	2. Inevitabilities

_Thanks so much for all the reviews, I'm glad that people seem to like this idea! This story will be a Rogan I promise and Tristan will be nothing more than a friend... I hope that this chapter's okay, it's my 4th version of it (I just couldn't seem to get it right the first three times!)_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Rory looked around at her recently unpacked dorm room. Everything was in its proper place and it looked as if she had never left, as if the summer didn't exist and it was all a figment of her imagination. Lorelai had left only minutes ago, the two of them having spent the day together unpacking everything into the room that would be her home for the rest of the school year. Rory didn't want to admit it but after spending the summer in the Dugrey's mansion, her dorm seemed unbearably small; suffocating almost.

She sighed and fell back on the couch, suddenly tired. She had been up early the previous day to finish getting her stuff together and to do last minute errands. She had arrived at her dorm to see that Paris hadn't arrived yet which she found unusual. Deciding not to dwell on it, she realized that she was hungry, prompting her to move. Getting up and stretching a little, she heard her cell ring.

"Hello?" she asked, holding the phone up to her ear and leaning back on the couch.

"Rory, sweetheart! How are you?"

She smiled slightly, having expected this phone call. "Hi Cynthia. I'm fine thanks, how are you?"

Rory could practically hear Cynthia Dugrey's pout in response. "Awful, I want you and Tristan home!" Cynthia paused, the wheels turning in her head. "Tristan says that he's too busy at school during the first month to come home at all."

Rory nodded, even though she knew that Cynthia couldn't see her. "Yeah, the first month of school is pretty hectic. It's hard getting into a new routine."

Cynthia sighed. "Yeah I suppose." Her voice was pleading as she continued. "You couldn't call him and convince him to come home for a weekend, could you? You know that my son would do anything for you."

Rory laughed. "I'm not going to bug him, Cynthia. He put up with me all summer. Actually all of you did." She reflected on the last couple of months for a moment before continuing. "So, is there a special reason that you want Tristan to come home already? He just left a few days ago."

"Actually…" Cynthia's voice was that of a scheming woman. "I'm holding a party this weekend and I wanted the two of you to be there so I could show you guys off."

Rory was silent for a moment, knowing that in the end she would be persuaded to be at this party. "So what's it for?"

"What do you mean?"

"The party," she clarified. "What's it for?"

Cynthia's voice was dismissive. "I don't know, just a party. Do I need a reason?" She laughed.

"And what does Eric think of this party that you're having?"

She laughed. "Rory, darling, Eric and I have been married for many years, he's used to it by now. He said that as long as I keep it small, its fine."

Rory nodded and murmured in agreement. Although at the beginning of the summer, Cynthia was quieter and more demure, eager to be in Tristan's good graces, soon she had opened up more and became more of the socialite that she was. At first it had unnerved Rory but she had become used to it and realized that there was more to her friend's mother than what first appeared.

"So, I can expect you there, right?" Rory was shaken out of her thoughts by Cynthia's voice.

"You can expect me where?"

"At the party on Saturday night. Tristan won't be there but I'm sure that you can find someone to talk to."

Rory sighed, knowing that Cynthia was stubborn and there was no way she would get out of this short of a death certificate. "I'd love to come."

"Excellent! Now, will you be bringing a date?"

"Nope, just me."

Cynthia sighed. "A lovely girl like you should be able to get a date." Her voice was sly as she continued. "Unless you're saving all your dates for a certain special someone."

Rory laughed. "Tristan and I are never going to be more than just friends."

"That wasn't what I meant!"

"Sure, it wasn't," Rory replied sarcastically.

"But would it really be that bad? Then you would officially be part of the family!"

"Bye Cynthia." She grinned, used to Cynthia trying to marry her off to Tristan. It had become a usual occurrence over the summer.

"Would I really be that bad of a mother-in-law?"

"I really have to go. I'll see you on Saturday night."

"Fine." Cynthia sighed dramatically before brightening. "Come early. I found some fabulous dresses in your size that would look fantastic on you."

Rory sighed. "You don't have to keep buying me clothes."

"I know but I want to. I will see you Saturday evening."

Rory was met with the dial tone before she could respond. Sighing, she stretched and got up off the couch resolving to get a cup of coffee. Everything else could wait at the moment.

-

Tristan Dugrey rolled his eyes into the phone and continued pacing his room, much to the amusement of his companions who were watching him from the couch. "I know I know mom and I wish that I could be there but I have things to do before classes start. I don't have the time to come home this weekend."

"Rory will be there," Cynthia pleaded with her son even though she knew that it was all in vain. Tristan got his stubbornness from his father.

"And that's great for her but I have no time to come home. I'm sorry but I'll come home next month like I promised." He looked up when one of his friends cleared his throat and gestured towards his watch. "But anyway, I have to go. I'll call you later."

"But…" Cynthia sighed and gave up. "Okay, fine. Stay safe, okay sweetheart?"

"Sure mom," Tristan replied uncomfortably. He was still kind of uneasy about the maternal characteristics that his mother was displaying. "Bye."

"Bye."

Tristan hung up the phone before turning to face his friends that had congregated in his room. He grinned. "Who's ready to party?"

In a minute they were out the door and on the way to a local club. There were eight of them and had been since the beginning of freshmen year. They had all ditched the tour the first day and had all ended up getting lost on their way back to campus. From then on, they were friends.

Tristan found himself walking beside Caitlyn, a close friend of his. He was unsure of what to say to her after what had happened this summer. She was perfect; smart, funny, nice and completely gorgeous. Of course she just happened to have feelings more than friendship towards him and had let him know it right before he had left for Hartford. Tristan hadn't known what to do and so he told her that he needed some time to think about it.

"So how was your summer?" Caitlyn finally ventured, her voice quiet, hands shoved in her pockets.

"It wasn't bad. Yours?"

She shrugged. "I've had better, I've had worse. What did you do?"

"Not a lot. A friend of mine was going through some shit and stayed with us for the summer." Tristan felt like she was quizzing him and put his hands into his pockets awkwardly. He felt like he was twelve and on his first date again.

"Oh, that was nice of you to let him stay; I'm sure he appreciated it."

Tristan nodded and smiled slightly. "Yeah but I'm sure she regrets it now. My mom has been trying to turn her into the daughter she never had."

Caitlyn nodded, trying not to let the surprise show on her face when Tristan mentioned that it was a girl that had spent the summer at his house. She hated that she let a man feel so insecure about herself, she hated that she had let her feelings for him develop into something more.

"So what's going on Tristan?" she finally asked, turning to face him. "Sometimes it seems like you want something more but then you leave for the summer and I don't hear from you once." She tried to make her voice sound as undemanding as possible but was unsuccessful.

Tristan sighed; he had known that the topic would resurface eventually and honestly he didn't know what he felt. When he had been shipped off to military school all those years ago he had believed himself in love with Rory Gilmore. As the years went by, the feelings diminished until he rarely thought of her and he had pushed her from his mind. And then he saw her again and everything became distorted and he didn't know what to think. After spending the summer with her, he realized that whether those feelings had once been more or not, he no longer felt anything more for her than friendship. But then again he wasn't sure if he felt anything more for Caitlyn than friendship either.

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I'm sorry for not calling this summer but I was spending time with my family."

"And another girl," Caitlyn remarked bitterly before she could stop herself.

"You're not my girlfriend, Caitlyn. You have no right to get mad at me for being friends with a girl." He sighed. "And that's all Rory is; just a friend."

"But do you want her to be more than just a friend?"

Tristan made an aggravated noise. "No, I only have platonic feelings for her." His voice was quiet when he continued. "But I can't do this Caitlyn; I can't have you constantly jumping down my throat. I think we should just be friends." He tried to ignore the hurt look on her face and turned his head away.

She nodded. "Okay," she murmured, looking at her feet as they arrived at the club five or so minutes after the rest of their group had.

He opened the door for her as it had been drilled in his head since he was young that it was the polite thing to do. Following her inside, they immediately headed towards the table that their friends had claimed as theirs without saying a word.

Tristan sighed as he settled back in his chair a drink in hand. Caitlyn had gone straight to talk with the girls, completely ignoring him. He could only guess what she was saying. He hated this, hated that relationships between friends could never stay platonic, hated that he had had to hurt her. He knew that their friendship would never be the same.

"So, I'm guessing that it didn't go well?" Curtis, one of Tristan's close friends asked, leaning on the table slightly, ignoring as it wobbled. He had been one of the people that Tristan had spent the previous spring break with.

"Something like that." Tristan leaned back and took a deep swallow from his drink. It was going to be a long night.

-

Rory rushed around the room, from the closet to the bed and back again. The first week of school was always hectic and after her lazy summer she was a little overwhelmed by the amount of work that was already piling up. She sighed, realizing that she had wasted the summer, that instead of moping over Dean and hanging out with Tristan, she should have been working at furthering her career. She smiled knowing that that it wasn't true; that she wouldn't have given up her summer with the Dugreys for the world.

The phone rang and Rory dashed around the room, trying to locate where the sound was coming from. "Yeah?" she asked when she had finally found it.

"Well, that's an enthusiastic greeting!"

Rory smiled. "Hey mom."

"That's not much better! Honestly, what kind of daughter have I raised?" Lorelai asked in a teasing voice.

"An unenthusiastic one?" Rory asked sarcastically.

Lorelai nodded seriously. "Exactly. I blame Yale."

"You blame Yale?"

"You were enthusiastic until you went there. They're sucking all of the enthusiasm out of you! I'm going to write a letter and complain!"

Rory smiled. "You're going to write a letter to the Yale administration to complain about my lack of enthusiasm?"

Lorelai paused. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Rory laughed. "You do that." She stood up from the bed that she had been sitting on and moved towards the closet, looking for her shoes.

"So what are you doing tonight?" Lorelai asked. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I saw you last night at Grandma and Grandpa's!"

Her voice was dismissive as she replied. "That was Friday Night Dinner. Friday Night Dinners don't count. I thought that you could come up for a movie night or to do your laundry or something."

Rory bit her lip. "Actually I'm supposed to go to the Dugrey's house tonight for a dinner party thing."

"Oh."

"But I can come after!"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'll sneak you some dessert," Rory promised.

Lorelai grinned. "Deal."

They talked for a few more minutes before hanging up and Rory went back to gathering her stuff together. She knew that she was going to be late since she was supposed to be there early to see the dresses that Cynthia had bought her. She sighed as she threw more clothes into her overnight bag. Rory hated being late.

-

It was almost seven when Rory was finally standing outside of the Dugrey mansion, make-up bag in hand. She hadn't had time to do her make-up at Yale and so she had decided that it would be simpler to do it here. Reaching forward, she pushed the doorbell, smoothing a piece of hair behind her ear as she waiting for an answer. Finally the door opened revealing Eric Dugrey.

"Rory!" he exclaimed, moving forward for a hug. "It's good to see you again."

She smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It's good to see you again too." She glanced at the wineglass held tightly in his hand. "Getting the party started early?"

He laughed. "You know how stressful these supposedly casual get-togethers can get." He looked around suspiciously before leaning in to whisper, "Its ginger-ale." Leaning back he suddenly remembered his manners. "Look at this, my wife will have my head for making you stand out in the cold for so long. C'mon in." He gestured towards the entry hall as Rory stepped in.

She laughed. "It's hardly cold outside, Eric. It's barely September." She looked around at the impeccably clean house as the maid took her coat. "Where can I find Cynthia?"

"She's upstairs, fretting over her outfit, no doubt." His attention suddenly caught by something one of the caterers was whispering in his ear, he gestured towards the stairs. "Go on up."

-

Almost an hour later Rory was walking around mingling with the guests in her brand-new dress courtesy of Cynthia Dugrey. The party wasn't that big, only about fifty people or so and Rory was surprisingly having fun. She had spent almost twenty minutes debating with a group of men her grandfather's age about current events then had turned around and spent ten minutes talking about the latest fashions. It was an odd mixture of people but somehow it seemed right.

"Hi!"

Rory looked to her right to see a pretty blonde girl about her age grinning up at her. "Hi," she replied, smiling politely.

"I am so glad that there's someone my age here!" The girl gushed before bringing her glass of champagne up to her mouth. "I've been ambushed at least three times by people who have 'darling grandsons that I just have to meet!'"

Rory laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She looked around at the party. "But this isn't so bad; my grandma's parties are usually worse."

The girl sighed sympathetically before nodding. "I guess you're right; my parents usually throw these parties full of eligible men to set me up with." She paused, looking up at Rory. "I am being so rude, I'm sorry." She smiled. "I'm Stephanie."

"I'm Rory; it's nice to meet you."

"You too." She took another sip of her champagne before realizing that her glass was empty and made a face. "Come to the bar with me?"

Rory nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Before the summer, she would have shied away from this girl, away from the party and gone to another room to read the book that she had smuggled in her purse. Instead, she was heading towards the bar with a tipsy socialite, ready to get a drink. Maybe Tristan had had more influence on her than she'd thought.

"Champagne?" Stephanie asked, offering a glass to Rory and interrupting her musings.

"Thanks."

"I love your dress, by the way," Stephanie commented, eyeing the garment enviously.

Rory tugged at the somewhat revealing neckline uncomfortably. "Thanks, I like yours too."

"Thanks." Stephanie sighed. "It's being wasted here though. No guys here to ogle at me in it."

Rory laughed. "True but at least this way you won't have to make awkward conversation with a dozen guys with their mothers eavesdropping to make sure that you're suitable."

Stephanie laughed. "I like you." She signaled for another glass of champagne. When she got it, she held the drink up ceremoniously. "And I'll drink to that. Cheers!"

They clinked their glasses together. "Cheers," Rory murmured quietly.

-

It was just over an hour later and Rory was still talking to Stephanie, having found that she enjoyed her company.

"I cried the whole way through," Stephanie was saying. "I mean, it was such a sad movie. Good but sad."

Rory nodded in agreement. "I know, I cried too. Especially at the end."

Stephanie opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a voice.

"Rory!"

Rory turned and smiled at the approaching figure. "Hi Cynthia. It's a great party."

The hostess beamed, clearly in her element. "Thanks, it is isn't it?" She turned to Stephanie. "And it's so good to see you again, dear. It's been way too long!

"It has been, hasn't it?" She smiled politely. "My parents were just saying the other day that they don't see you enough."

Cynthia nodded. "Yes, I must give your mother a call sometime. They're away this week though, aren't they?"

Stephanie nodded. "They're in France but they send their regards."

Cynthia nodded again although her eyes were already glancing past the two girls. "Well I'll leave the two of you young girls alone. You don't need an old woman like me boring you. Stephanie, it was a pleasure seeing you again. Rory, I'll call you this week." Before either of them could reply, Cynthia was gone leaving a faint trail of her perfume behind.

Rory looked down at her watch and realized that she had been at the party much longer than she had planned. "I think that I'm going to head out too. I promised my mom I would go home for the weekend."

Stephanie nodded. "Your home is in Stars Hollow, right?" she asked, making sure that she had remembered correctly.

Rory smiled. "Yeah. It was great meeting you."

"You too. I haven't had so much fun at one of these parties in ages. We should hang out again. Can I get your phone number?"

"Definitely." Rory dug through her purse until she found her eyeliner to use as a pen, picked up a napkin that had been lying at her elbow and scribbled down her phone number. "Here. I'll see you around."

She waved good-bye to Stephanie and made her way towards the front door. She was starving and couldn't wait for some real food.

-

Almost a half an hour later Rory slid into a seat at Luke's diner across from her mother. She loved that no matter how long she stayed away from home Luke's and Stars Hollow always stayed the same. She smiled when almost immediately after her arrival Luke appeared with his order pad in hand.

"I'll just have a burger and fries please Luke," she said at his unasked question, smiling up at him. "Oh and of course coffee."

He rolled his eyes and nodded, not bothering to try to convince Rory against coffee. He was tired after spending the last half hour trying to convince her mother with no avail. "Be back in a minute."

"So how was your night?" Lorelai asked, sipping from the mug of coffee in front of her and smiling at her daughter.

Rory shrugged. "It was alright. I made a new friend."

Her mother grinned at her. "Aw, my baby's making friends all by herself now. She's all growed up."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Thanks mom."

"So is she society?" Lorelai leaned forward, eager to get the gossip.

"Is who society?"

"Your new friend."

"Oh." Rory shrugged. "I guess so. She grew up in Hartford and goes to Yale."

"Society," Lorelai stated decisively. "Wait if she goes to Yale how come you don't know her?"

"She-" Rory was cut off by the arrival of her dinner. "Thanks Luke."

"No problem."

She picked up the burger and moaned when she took a bite. "New Haven needs a Luke's," she said, a pout on her face.

"I know, honey, I know," Lorelai replied, sympathetically patting her daughter's hand. "So nice dress, where'd you get it?"

The mother daughter duo slipped into an easy catch-up session on everything that had gone on since they had last seen each other. It was late when they succumbed to sleep after they had spent hours giggling over the latest Hollywood blockbuster movie. Life was good.

-

Stephanie stepped into the dimly lit campus pub knowing that that was where her friends would be. Slipping her jacket off of her shoulders, she tried not to wince when she noticed that Finn was not with them and was instead leaning on the bar flirting with a pretty redhead. Steph and Finn had been in an on/off relationship for almost a year now and were currently in an off period. Sighing, she made her way towards the back where she could see Logan and Colin nursing their drinks.

"Hey guys!" she said brightly, trying not to show that her good mood had ebbed away after seeing Finn.

"Hey," Logan replied, already signaling a waiter. He smiled charmingly at the young girl in the waitress uniform making her blush. "Drink?"

Stephanie waved a hand dismissively, sliding into the empty seat next to Colin. "No, I've already drunk my share tonight."

"Party that bad?" Colin asked sympathetically, sipping at his scotch as Logan ordered another round.

"It was kind of boring but I met this really awesome girl there."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Now I know that Finn can be a jerk sometimes but don't tell me that he's completely turned you off of guys?"

She rolled her eyes and pushed at his arm. "I meant that she seemed like someone that we could be friends with."

"Is she hot?" Colin asked, looking more interested in a blonde that was eyeing him than the conversation.

"Why am I friends with you guys?" Stephanie asked jokingly.

"Because you love us," said a voice from behind her and she stiffened recognizing it to be Finn's. She turned around slowly and smiled up at him trying not to look affected by his presence. It was getting increasingly difficult as their relationship grew more and more complicated to pretend like she didn't care.

"Hey Finn."

"Hello love." He surveyed her face through narrowed eyes and Stephanie could tell that he'd taken advantage of standing beside the bar. But then again he always did. "We need to talk." Without waiting for her to respond he grasped her arm and pulled her up, leading her out of the pub and out into the dark street.

Stephanie let him, already knowing how this conversation would go, how everything would end. This always happened, it was inevitable and had almost become routine. She knew that no matter what he did or how much it hurt her, she would always take him back, always forgive and forget. It was a vicious cycle and she hated it.

But she loved him.


	3. Determination

_Reviewers: Thank you so much; I couldn't believe all the positive feedback!_

_I had a little trouble with this chapter, it's not my favourite but there is some Rogan action... so that's always good, right? Anway, I hope that you like it._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

The sound of her phone ringing jerked Rory out of her slumber and she growled into her pillow. Moaning, she rolled over bringing the pillow over her ears but it did little towards muffling the noise. She reached blindly to her left before she remembered that she was in Stars Hollow instead of her dorm and turned to her right instead. Fumbling around her bedside table, she tried to find the source of the noise so she could turn it off and get back to sleep. It was almost two minutes later of non-stop ringing that she had located the phone and by that time she was already half awake. Knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to fall back asleep she flipped open her cell phone, rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes.

"What?" she snapped irritably. Just because she was awake didn't mean that she was accepting of it.

"Is that how we're greeting each other now? I must admit that I'm not overly fond of it."

"Tristan?" Rory asked, trying to place the voice.

"How's it going Mary?" he responded.

"It was going great until about three minutes ago!"

"Why what happened?"

"I woke up."

"Well it had to happen sometime," he replied innocently and Rory could almost hear his smirk. She couldn't stop the smile that was spreading across her face at his voice. It felt like she hadn't spoken to him in ages.

"Why are you calling me so early?" she whined, ignoring how childish she sounded.

"Early bird catches the worm."

Rory snorted. "Seriously, Tristan."

He laughed before sobering. "I have a problem."

"Well I knew that." There was a pause. "What's wrong?"

"There's this girl-" he started.

"There always is," she said, interrupting him.

"Funny. Anyway, I met her the other night and we really clicked. We spent the night talking about nothing and it was great." He sighed. "But then there's Caitlyn. I told you about Caitlyn, right?"

Rory thought for a moment trying to recall where she had heard that name before. "Your friend who told you that she likes you?"

"Yeah, that's the one. So before we went out last night I told her that we should just be friends."

"Oh, how'd she take it?" Rory frowned sympathetically, sitting up in bed, the sheets pooling at her waist.

"Not very well," Tristan replied, sighing. "And I really like this other girl but I don't want to start something with her if it'll make Caitlyn upset. I want to keep her friendship."

Rory tried to cover her yawn. "Have you been stressing about this all night?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night. I don't know what to do."

"Tell you what, I'll call you when I'm awake and we can talk more about it."

Tristan laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess it is kind of early."

"Kind of?" Rory repeated incredulously. "Mom and I had a movie night last night and I'm exhausted."

Tristan just laughed in response, knowing how their movie nights could get. He had had one with them during the summer and had ended up leaning over the toilet for the majority of it after having too much sugar. "So you'll call me later?"

"Yeah, tonight."

"I'll talk to you later than."

"Okay, bye Tristan."

"Oh and Mary?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Rory smiled. "No problem."

She flipped her phone shut and flopped back into her bed. Maybe if she was lucky she could get a more couple hours of sleep before she had to wake up in order to go back to Yale.

-

Rory stood in line for her coffee, ignoring the fact that she was now officially late for her newspaper meeting. She hadn't had a cup so far and was certain that she would be no use at the paper anyways until she had coffee in her system.

"Hi, a large caramel macchiato, please," she said, smiling at the supplier of coffee. He nodded to her and told her the total. She counted out the coins needed on her palm and handed them to the barrister. Her smile widened when she received the steaming beverage and wrapped her fingers around it.

"Hi!" Rory turned when she heard a voice to her right and saw that Stephanie was standing there holding a cup of coffee and smiling brightly.

"Hey," she said and took large swallow of her drink, happy to have caffeine coursing through her veins again.

"How's it going?" Stephanie fell into step beside Rory, wrapping her jacket around her tightly despite the warm air.

"I'm late," Rory replied. "I was supposed to be at the newspaper almost ten minutes ago." She sped up a little. Stephanie stayed at her side as they walked and Rory looked at her out of the corner of her eye and noticed that she had bags under her eyes. "Are you okay? You look upset."

Steph sighed, wondering if her relationship issues were so blatantly obvious. "Guy problems."

Rory nodded sympathetically. "Those are the worst kind of problems." She covered a yawn with her free hand. She was exhausted after staying up late the previous night trying to help Tristan with his girl troubles.

Steph nodded in agreement. "I know," she said sighing again. "And I should probably walk away from this problem but I can't, you know?"

Rory slowed down as they were approaching the newspaper office. She turned towards Stephanie and offered an understanding smile as she was hit with an impulsive idea. "I have to go but do want to grab lunch in a couple hours?"

Her new friend smiled. "I'd love to."

-

Bold, harsh blue streaks filled the small shred of paper sitting in front of Rory. Trying to drown out Doyle's irritating voice was harder than it looked and it was taking its toll on her office supplies. Rory sighed, leaning her head on the palm on her head and gazed at the pen in her hand as if it were the most interesting thing she had ever seen. She began tapping it on the desk, emulating Lane when she was drumming but soon stopped after receiving annoyed looks from her fellow journalists.

Rory sighed again, and placed her head on her other hand. The meeting had gone longer than she had expected. Partly because of Doyle's meticulous habits having to do with the newspaper and partly because she was so bored that every minute seemed like an hour. All in all, Rory Gilmore was tired and slightly coffee-deprived and that was never a good combination.

There was a sudden silence in the newsroom. Rory frowned confused; Doyle never stopped in the middle of a rant. Looking up, she was surprised to see a nervous looking guy in a delivery man uniform standing awkwardly by the door holding a bouquet of sunflowers. He shrunk back as the entire newsroom turned towards him as one, all looking for a moment's relief from Doyle's lectures.

"What?" Doyle snapped annoyed, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he whirled around to face the carrier of the flowers.

"Um," he stuttered, holding the bouquet in front of him like a shield. "Is there a Rory Gilmore here?"

Rory's eyes widened marginally and she put up a hand uncertainly. She couldn't think of anyone who would buy her flowers. "Yeah, that's me."

The boy headed towards her, still withering under Doyle and Paris' gaze, the flowers held in front of him. "These are for you." He thrust the flowers at her before turning and quickly exiting the newsroom, eager to escape Doyle's glare.

"Who are they from?" asked a fellow journalist, smacking her shiny red lips together and craning her neck to see.

Rory shrugged. "I don't know." She rummaged through the flowers, looking for a card and wished that the whole newsroom wasn't privy to this moment. She could feel a red flush crawling up her neck.

"That is so cute!" A girl who Rory had never talked to before squealed, looking enviously at the bouquet in Rory's hands. "Nobody ever sends me flowers. You are so lucky."

The rest of the females quickly acknowledged their agreement, sighing with jealousy. Rory could even see Paris looking at the flowers with interest from her place behind Doyle where she had been taking notes with importance.

"C'mon people, we have more important issues to discuss than Gilmore's personal life!" Doyle snapped, looking pointedly at Rory, already angry with her for arriving late.

She ignored him and grinned in triumph when she finally located the card that came with the sunflowers. It probably would have taken less time if she hadn't been so embarrassed by the amount of people staring at her. Ripping open the envelope, she paused a second before she went to open the card, still trying to guess the sender. She opened it and smiled ruefully at the familiar handwriting. She should have known. Her smile widened when the words written on the paper registered with her.

_Thanks for being a great friend Mary_

_Love Tristan_

She was full out grinning now and she knew that she looked like a fool but at the moment she didn't care. Some people wondered how she could be friends with someone like Tristan who was known for being arrogant and snobby but they didn't know him like she knew him. They didn't know that once you gained his trust he would be loyal to you forever. They didn't know that he could be the sweetest person in the world.

-

"Sorry I'm late," Rory said, sliding into the seat across from Stephanie at the restaurant that they had agreed to meet at. The smile still hadn't left her face since she received the flowers which were now sitting in a glass jar in her dorm room.

"That's okay." Steph looked at her curiously. "Good meeting?"

"You could say that." Rory picked up the menu in front of her and scanned it. "What's good here?"

Stephanie sighed wistfully, looking at her own menu. "Everything."

Rory laughed. "Sounds like my kind of restaurant."

Almost an hour later she was pushing away her now empty plate and leaning back in her seat completely satisfied from the meal that she had just ate. She picked up her half empty drink and took a long sip. Putting her glass down, she looked up to see Stephanie looking at her in astonishment.

"What?" she asked laughing, feeling a little self-conscious.

Stephanie shook her head slowly, trying to comprehend what she had just seen. "How do you eat that much?" Her voice was incredulous, causing Rory to laugh again. "No, seriously," Stephanie protested. "Do you always eat like that?"

"Usually," she said, nodding in agreement.

"How do you look like you do?" Stephanie's eyes were still wide with astonishment. She looked down at her half-eaten plate and Rory's empty one, armed with the knowledge that Rory's lunch had been almost double the size of hers.

"My mom and I call it the Lorelai paradox."

"The Lorelai paradox?"

Rory nodded. "My full name is Lorelai and my mom named me after her."

Steph looked at her curiously. "How do you get Rory out of Lorelai?"

She laughed in response. "My mom named me after herself; who knows what she's thinking?"

The waiter came by at that moment to clear their plates cutting off whatever Stephanie was going to say in reply.

"Would you ladies care for any dessert?" he asked, looking at Stephanie in particular and smiling charmingly.

"Rory?" Steph asked her, gesturing towards her.

"No thanks." She wasn't full but knew that she could probably convince Steph to stop for ice cream with her later.

"Just the bill thanks," Steph told the waiter, flashing him a pearly smile. He smiled back and, nodding, he left. "He's cute," Steph gushed as soon as he was out of earshot.

"He is." Rory sighed, watching him walk away, knowing that her friend was doing the same thing right beside her. She giggled and then stopped, surprised at herself; Rory Gilmore did not giggle. "Don't you have a boyfriend though?"

Steph smiled deviously. "Yeah, I do but it never hurts to look right?" She paused for a minute, thinking. "Finn's cuter though."

"Finn would be your boyfriend?" Rory asked.

"Yes he is." Stephanie toyed with her empty glass, suddenly shy which was not a feeling that she was used to. She sighed. "At the moment, that is."

"At the moment?"

"We have our on and off moments."

Rory nodded with understanding, looking at Steph with knowing eyes. "But you don't want it to be one of those relationships, do you?"

Stephanie shook her head in response. "No, but it's college, you know? He doesn't want to be too serious."

Rory felt like she was prying and worked to change the subject. "So how did the two of you meet?"

"We meet a couple years ago at a club that both of us belong to. My friends became friends with him and so we were always thrown together. Eventually stuff just happened." She shrugged, not feeling very articulate on the subject.

The waiter chose that moment to arrive, bill in hand. There was a small argument over who would pay for the food, which Stephanie won. They gathered up their coats that they didn't really need as it was quite warm outside and made their way out of the restaurant.

"So where to now?" Stephanie asked, spreading her arms out wide as if describing all the places they could go. "Oh wait, do you have classes?"

Rory shook her head. "No I had them all this morning." She muffled a yawn as if to show how early she had had to wake up that morning.

"So come back to campus with me. We could hang out."

Rory smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

-

They walked through a half-deserted courtyard, no particular destination in mind. Laughing slightly as both were trying to outdo each other with stories from their childhood, they were both surprised when they noticed that two people had approached them without them detecting it.

"Finn, Logan!" Stephanie said with a bright smile on her face. Rory examined the newcomers almost warily. There were two of them and, by the way he was looking at Stephanie, the dark haired one was obviously Finn. And that left the blond haired one to be Logan. "Where's Colin?"

"Colin's out with Francesca." The blond one filled in, smiling. "I'm Logan." He looked at Rory pointedly, waiting for her to fill in her name and smiled charmingly.

"Oh right! Logan, Finn this is Rory. Rory this is Finn and Logan." Stephanie quickly made introductions while looking curiously at her boyfriend. He hadn't said a word to her yet and usually he was all over her in a matter of seconds.

"It's nice to meet you," Finn said, distractedly, looking at Stephanie. "Can I talk to you for a second, love?" he asked, already dragging her away from the group. Stephanie glanced back at Rory apologetically but let herself be pulled away.

Rory turned from watching them walk away back to the blond man standing in front of her. He was looking at her, a smile playing at his lips, making Rory smile somewhat uncomfortably back.

"I know you," he mused, looking her over from her feet to her hair. He took a moment to complete his survey before his eyes met hers; blue versus brown. "Do you model?"

She rolled her eyes, knowing that a question like that wouldn't be followed up by anything that she wanted to hear. "Nope."

"Act?"

"No."

"Are you from Hartford?"

"No." Rory was getting annoyed by all the questions and it showed in her tone of voice.

There was a pause in the conversation where he smiled at her, still trying to place her. "Seriously, I've seen you before." He finally shrugged, admitting defeat for the moment. "I guess we'll never know."

"I guess so," she agreed, looking away from him. His stare was making her feel uncomfortable.

"So you go to Yale?" Logan finally asked, tired of the silence.

"Yup."

"Do you like it?"

Rory smiled. "I love it."

"Good, that's good."

She nodded. "It is."

He looked over at Finn and Stephanie and noticed that they were still deep in conversation. Stephanie was clearly getting annoyed with what her boyfriend was saying and was currently flailing her arms about trying to make a point. Sighing, Logan looked at his watch knowing that they wouldn't be done for a while and so he had some time to kill. He turned towards the girl standing slightly behind him, knowing that she would be as equally bored as he was.

"Do you want to grab a cup of coffee or something?" he asked, looking back at Rory.

She bit her lip inwardly debating with herself and Logan had to stop himself from leaning forward and biting the lip himself. He didn't know where the urge to do so came from but he was almost positive that this was one girl who would not appreciate that particular gesture.

"Steph and I are supposed to hang out," she finally pointed out, not giving a yes or no answer. She didn't know this man at all and wasn't sure if she wanted to leave the area with him.

Logan rolled his eyes. "They'll be awhile. Finn just heard that Stephanie went out with some guy last week and wants to claim his territory. They do this all the time, believe me."

Rory still hesitated. Finally she relented. "Alright, sure, I'll come."

"Great!" He turned to go and looked back when he noticed that she wasn't following. "Come on!" He waved an arm to emphasis her moving.

She hurried to catch up to him, looking behind her in the direction that they had left Finn and Stephanie uncertainly. She watched Logan out of the corner of her eye while she walked. He had a certain self-assurance around him but she couldn't tell if it were arrogance or simply confidence. He was good-looking, she could give him that and he seemed secure in that knowledge. She smiled slightly when she realized that he was looking at her too.

-

"You went out with him." Finn's voice was low and serious, causing Stephanie to frown. Nothing good ever came out of Finn being serious.

"I went out with whom?" she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He had pulled her off to the side to talk and dove straight into this conversation; there was no polite conversation intended.

He snorted. "You can't even remember who you went out with?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. Don't you dare," she snapped, moving her arms for emphasis. Stephanie was suddenly angry and she placed her hands on her hips defiantly. "You have no right to drag me away to accuse me of going out with a guy while you and I weren't together!"

Finn looked down at his feet. He didn't know why he was acting this way, why it was such a big deal to him. After he had overheard James McLeod bragging about having had a date with Steph, his mind had gone blank. His first impulse had been to punch the guy; nobody went out with his girl but him. Unfortunately Logan had stopped him from doing so, although he had glared at him with his meanest glare on the way by. His second impulse had been to confront Stephanie; why she had gone out with that jerk was beyond him. Logan had agreed to that and so Finn had proceeded straight to her dorm. After finding out that she wasn't home, he and Logan had wandered around for nearly an hour until they found her and he still didn't understand.

Finn honestly didn't know what to think. Stephanie was still talking, her voice getting progressively louder. He did the only thing that he wanted to do at the moment. He kissed her.

Stephanie pushed him away after a moment, trying to look angry despite her flushed cheeks and darkened eyes.

"You can't just do that every time we get into an argument," she said, even though both of them knew that that was what always happened, what always would happen. She was smiling slightly as he pushed a piece of hair behind her ear, somewhat surprised by the unusual gesture.

"I know love," he whispered back, sliding his hand down to her waist. "I know."

He kissed her again and this time there were no complaints.

-

The nearest coffee cart was only a short walk away and so Logan and Rory arrived within minutes. Logan waved away all of Rory's attempts to pay for her beverage and merely held up two fingers after she had ordered. After they had their drinks in hand, they wandered back slowly in the direction that they had come from.

"So what made you come to Yale?" Logan finally ventured. He was curious about this girl that Stephanie had befriended so quickly. She was beautiful and Logan Huntzberger was never one to ignore a pretty girl.

"It seemed like my best option." She shrugged. "And my grandparents went here so that was a bonus."

"Your grandparents?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "So you're from money."

"You automatically deduce from the knowledge that my grandparents went to Yale that that means that they were rich?" Rory frowned, toying with the lid of her coffee. She thought for a moment. "If I was, hypothetically, would that change your opinion of me?"

"Hypothetically? Yes."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, surprised at his honesty. "How?"

He shrugged. "I'm not saying that my opinion of you would drastically change. But honestly, have you ever met someone who isn't swayed by money?"

"Yes," she claimed defiantly.

"Who?"

Rory racked her mind for someone, anyone, who didn't care about money at all.

"Can't think of anyone can you?" he asked her softly and smiled slightly, noticing how she sub-consciously bit her lip while she was thinking.

"No, I can."

"Who?" he asked again, watching her face.

"My mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah, she doesn't care about money."

"Does she work?"

Rory frowned. "Yes."

"Then she cares about money." Logan smiled; knowing that despite was she thought he had just won the debate. He tossed his empty cup into a trashcan as he was walking by and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"What?" she replied incredulously. "That doesn't make sense. Everyone works, you need to work."

"Yes, you need to work in order to make money. If you didn't care about money then you wouldn't work," he explained patiently, trying not to laugh at the look on her face.

"But you need to work in order to provide for your family," she countered, still frowning.

Logan shook his head. "If you didn't care about money you would live in isolation without any material possessions. You wouldn't need to make money to provide for your family."

"What about food? Shelter?"

"You would live like people in the past used to and live off of the land."

"Okay, so according to you I don't need to be here at all. I should be out in the wilderness hunting to survive." She frowned as she went to take a sip of her drink and noticed that it was all gone.

Logan laughed. "I didn't say that." He smiled at her, showing off his pearly whites. "If you didn't go here you never would have met me. Think about how boring your life would be without me."

"I just met you fifteen minutes ago," she pointed out, as she placed her now empty coffee cup into the garbage. She was smiling now even though she didn't really want to be.

"And haven't these last fifteen minutes been fun?" he asked, leaning in close to her.

"That's one word for it." She smiled sweetly at him, making him laugh.

"Logan!" During their discussion, they had arrived back where they had left Finn and Stephanie earlier. Finn was fast approaching, after leaving Stephanie with a hard kiss to the lips.

"Let's go," he said to Logan before turning to Rory. "Sorry, love. I'm Finn and you are?" he asked causing her to lift her eyebrows in question.

"This is Rory, Finn," Logan explained, laughing at his friend's forgetfulness. "You met her earlier with Steph."

"Right, of course I did." He turned back to Logan. "The pub?"

"Right behind you." Logan turned back to Rory, offering her a smile. "I'll see you around."

He walked away with Finn by his side, leaving Rory trying to figure out why that sounded more like a statement than a question. She smiled to herself as she walked towards Stephanie, knowing that she would be seeing a lot more of Logan in the future.

-

Logan turned, watching as Rory approached Steph and started to talk to her and he smiled. Finn was ranting about something or other beside him but he had long since tuned him out as he watched Rory. There was something about that girl, something more than he was seeing. His smile widened, knowing that if he was anything, he was determined. And at the moment he was determined to get to know that girl better. Logan Huntzberger fought the sudden urge to whistle as he walked towards the pub confidently, looking nonchalant to all that saw him. Oh yeah, he was going to be seeing a lot more of Rory.


	4. Ploys and Mysteries

_Thanks so much for all the reviews-- they're greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

When Rory saw Stephanie standing outside of her last class of the day, she wasn't surprised. Steph waved enthusiastically at her, almost spilling the bottle of water that she held in her hand. With a smile, Rory hastened her step and was beside her new friend in less than a minute.

"Hey! How's it going?"

Stephanie smiled in response and sighed wistfully. "Pretty good, actually pretty great." She looked pointedly at Rory, waiting for her to ask.

Rory gestured towards her book bag. "I have to put my stuff back in my dorm but do you want to tell me why you're so great?" She smiled knowingly at her friend.

At Stephanie's nod, they turned and headed in the direction of Rory's dorm. They walked slowly, letting the more fast-paced students pass them. There was silence for a moment before Steph broke it impatiently, throwing her empty bottle into a nearby trashcan.

"Guess what?"

Rory laughed; her friend was positively beaming and it was infectious. "What?"

"I have a date tonight." She sighed again and smiled demurely before giggling. Rory watched all of this with a smile.

"With Finn?"

There was a pause. "No, not with Finn. His name is Tyler." Steph's smile remained on her face, but it had faded a little.

"Oh." Rory didn't know what to say. She wasn't used to the way Steph could drop a guy and then have another one the next day. The situation with Dean and Jess a few years back was kind of like that, but that had been building up for months before. This was out of the blue. "You and Finn broke up?"

Stephanie nodded; she had been wanting to talk about the break-up to someone since it had happened. "Yeah, last night. He was drunk and he was flirting with these girls and he's always flirting with girls and so I don't know why I got so angry." She took a deep breath. "But I did. And so I told him that he has to decide; either be with me completely or not be with me at all." She looked away, not really seeing anything, instead reliving the previous night. "He didn't take the idea of an ultimatum very well."

"I'm sorry," Rory offered, watching her friend out of the corner of her eye.

"Me too." Steph smiled sadly before brightening. "But then I went to my first class and there was this guy there and we got to talking and he asked me out."

Rory smiled. "That's great. Where are you guys going?"

Stephanie bit her lip. "A party."

"A party?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, remembering that Steph had mentioned that Finn and his friends were constantly throwing parties. "Who's party?"

Steph looked down. "Finn's party," she whispered, guiltily but there was an odd look in her eye.

"Steph," Rory said, chastising. They approached Rory's dorm and she reached into her bag, fishing for her keys. Pulling them out triumphantly, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"I know, I know!" Stephanie looked away as they stepped inside the room. "But c'mon, we stay friends after we break up; we always stay friends. He dumped me and so he has no right to say who I can or cannot date."

"But that doesn't mean that you should parade your new guy in front of him," Rory pointed out logically, walking towards the mini fridge in the corner and gesturing towards its contents. "Want anything?"

"Soda, please." Stephanie sat down on the couch, immediately making herself comfortable by leaning back and putting her feet up. "And I'm not parading my new guy in front of him. It's not my fault if we happen to be at the same party."

"You know that this can only blow up in your face, right?" Rory sat down beside Steph, curling her legs up under her and holding out the soda to her friend.

"Yeah I know." She smiled and looked up at Rory, grabbing her drink and popping the top. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Come to the party tonight."

Rory shook her head. "Sorry, I can't."

"C'mon, what do you have to do, study?"

"Yes." Stephanie would have laughed if her friend's face wasn't serious.

"You should come, you can meet my friends." Stephanie smiled charmingly, widening her eyes pleadingly. "And you can make sure that the night's events turn out in my favor."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to come to the party to make sure that Finn doesn't see you with your new guy."

Stephanie laughed affectionately. "Oh, Rory, you're so naïve. Of course I'm not going to make you do that."

"Good." Rory crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.

Stephanie's smile was devious as she took a long sip from her drink. "You're going to make sure that he does see us."

-

Tristan Dugrey stared down the wooden door and took a deep breath. He was nervous, which was a new feeling for him. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself down but the sound of his heartbeat still echoed in his ears. Raising a clenched fist, he lightly rapped his knuckles against the wood, before pulling them back rapidly as the door swung open.

"Oh hey Tristan!" said the girl who answered the door, a bright smile spreading across her face.

"Hey Erika," he replied smiling back, putting one hand in his pocket casually. Using his other hand to run through his hair, he tried to ignore the feeling that her smile sent to his stomach.

"How's it going?" She had started to walk away from her dorm and was now calling over her shoulder. Tristan followed without her having to ask, it was just expected.

"Better now that I'm with you." He wanted to hit himself as the corny line popped out, not matter how true it really was. He grinned arrogantly, trying to play it off.

Erika rolled her eyes and tossed her blonde hair. "That's sad Tristan." She grinned. "So what brought you to my dorm on this lovely day?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go grab a cup of coffee or something." She slowed down a little at his words.

"I don't really like coffee, sorry."

He smiled. "They serve other things, you know. Besides there's always the 'or something' part of my offer." He watched as she bit her lip, looked up at him and stopped walking.

She sighed. "Look, Tristan, you're a nice guy and everything but I don't want to go out with you." She smiled sympathetically, as if she were used to breaking men's hearts. With her looks she probably was.

Tristan had thought that military school had been painful. He had thought that the endless push-ups and mile runs had been killer, the most pain he would ever have to endure. He had thought that until this moment that is. After spending almost every evening with Erika that week and almost every waking hour thinking about her, he hadn't even entertained the idea about her rejecting him. Sure he had been wary about entering a relationship and had even called Rory about her to get a woman's opinion on it, but that didn't mean that he had had any doubts.

He laughed, sounding more realistic than he had thought that he could when he felt like this. "Wow, you think a lot of yourself, Erika. I meant that we go out as friends." His words were harsh but her nonchalant rejection had hurt him.

She smiled back, although her smile was obviously forced. She hated that he had made her look conceited. She looked at her watch, pointedly. "I have to get going, but I'll see you later, okay?"

When she turned to walk away, both of them knew that neither would seek the other's company out again. Both of their egos had been bruised and for that their friendship would suffer.

Tristan watched her go and sighed. He had really thought that the two of them had had something. Turning to walk away, he was surprised when he immediately bumped into someone.

"Sorry," he mumbled, before looking up. He smiled gently at the girl in front of him, surprised to see her. "Hey Caitlyn."

"Tristan." She raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen you in a while."

He nodded in agreement; they hadn't seen each other since that night at the club when he told her that he didn't feel the same way. Since then they had had a mutual silent agreement to avoid each other.

"How's it going?" he finally asked, putting both of his hands in his pockets. He leaned back a little and shifted his weight.

"I'm good." She looked at her feet for a minute, hesitating. "Do you want to hang out or something?" At his dubious look she hastened to add, "As friends, of course."

Tristan smiled and relaxed. He and Caitlyn had been really close friends before the summer and he missed her. "Yeah, I'd like that. Want to go for coffee or something?"

As they walked down the hall towards the nearest café, Caitlyn looked back over her shoulder at her friend that was standing off to the side. Flashing her a thumbs up sign, she looked back at the man next to her with a grin on her face. Life was good.

-

"Why am I doing this?" Rory groaned into the phone almost an hour later. Stephanie had left earlier, wanting to be home with plenty of time to get ready for her date. Rory still wasn't sure how she had been persuaded to go to the party.

"You're just a slut for punishment, I guess," Lorelai said cheerfully into the phone. "Besides, maybe you'll meet a cute guy or something. And you got us out of Friday Night dinner, which is always a bonus in my opinion."

Rory sighed, remembering how happy her grandmother had been that she was getting out and meeting people that were of Yale standard. "I don't have anything to wear," she whined, looking for excuses.

Her mother snorted. "You're kidding, right? You spent the entire summer with Cynthia Dugrey and you're complaining about your lack of clothes? Suck it up, princess."

Rory gasped playfully. "Is that what you really think of me?" she asked dramatically, trying to make her voice sound tearful.

"You know it." Lorelai checked her watch. "But I have to go get ready; I have a date with Luke tonight."

"Aw, have a good time." Rory smiled before a thought crossed her mind and it changed to a frown. "But not too good of a time."

"I can't make any promises."

Rory groaned. "Over share."

"Bye sweets."

"Bye mom."

As Rory flipped her phone shut and tossed it on the bed, she turned to her closet, looking once more at her possible outfit choices for that night. She groaned again, as she went through all of them, trying to find something suitable. Giving up, she flopped down on the bed, burying her head in her arms. Somehow she knew that this would be an eventful night.

-

Loud music helped Rory find the location of the dorm where the party was being thrown. A hastily drawn map that Stephanie had made on the back of a napkin was clutched in her hands but she had not needed to use it one she had entered the vicinity of the party. Just follow your ears seemed to be the general rule. Rory could see several other students like her, looking unsure but still heading determinately in the direction of the music. She sighed again as she uncomfortably pulled up the tank-top that she had decided upon wearing which she know regretted. She knew that nothing good could come out of this night.

She entered the open door where people were streaming in and out of and surveyed the mass of college students before her. Not being able to locate Stephanie immediately, she headed towards the bar which was where her friend had mentioned that she would be. It was taking her longer than she had expected to get past the moving bodies when she was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"Hey," a guy leered at her, looking from her high heels to her curly hair suggestively, making her cross her arms over her chest. He moved his hand a little higher and she stepped back.

Rory could feel her face flush. "Excuse me," she said, taking a step back out of his grasp but any further movement was stopped by the crowd.

"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast." His voice was as oily as his appearance. He reached forward to grab hold of her again.

"Hey, is there a problem here?" Someone stepped in between them, shielding Rory protectively.

The leer slipped off of the oily guy's face as he raised his hands innocently. "No, no man, there's nothing going on here." He backed up, before he bumped into someone and then, stumbling, he turned, walking away rather quickly.

The man in front of Rory turned slightly, watching him go. Rory's eyebrows went up when she saw who it was.

"Are you okay?" he asked, having turned around to face her, putting a protective hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off irritably, suddenly mad at the notion that she needed protection; that she was too weak to take care of herself.

"I'm fine Logan," she replied shortly, turning to walk away.

"Hey." His eyebrows rose at her tone and he reached out to grab her arm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just need to go meet Stephanie is all." Moving out of his grasp, she began to make her way towards the bar like she had been doing before she had been interrupted.

"She's over there with Finn." Logan gestured towards the corner where the two were obviously in disagreement with a brunet eavesdropping on their conversation.

Rory sighed, and changed directions, heading to her friend instead of to the bar. Again she was stopped by Logan's voice.

"You don't have to go over there; Colin's mediating. Besides Stephanie can handle herself, believe me."

She bristled, indignantly. "You have no right to tell me what to do."

He held his hands up defensively, surprised at the anger in her tone. "Who said anything about telling you what to do? I'm just stopping you from wasting your time."

"You're already wasting my time," she replied, annoyed at him for making her feel like a child. "You didn't have to interfere earlier, you know." It had slipped out before she could stop herself.

"What, when that guy was practically feeling you up? You can't tell me that you honestly like guys like that."

"I don't need you to protect me." Her voice was calm but Logan could detect that there was an underlying meaning in what she was saying.

"I know you don't, Rory. I just don't like it when guys treat women like that."

Looking at him, she tried to decide whether or not he was being sincere. Finally deciding that he was, she smiled slightly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay," she repeated with a bigger smile.

"On that note, can I buy you a drink?" He gestured towards the bar, complete with bartender.

"Aren't the drinks free?" she asked innocently, as he put his hand on the small of her back, guiding her through the crowd.

"Minor detail," he replied with a grin.

-

Stephanie's night was not going the way she had wanted. While her date was undeniably gorgeous, he was also not reliable. After he hadn't shown up at the prearranged time, she had left for the party without him, feeling miserable knowing that Finn would have women surrounding him. She had spent the first hour that she was there watching as ex-boyfriend hit on every women in the vicinity, watching even though her heart broke a little more each time. If that wasn't enough, when she had finally started to have a good time dancing with this cute guy that she had just met, Finn had shown up. It continued to go downhill from there.

"What the fuck is this Finn?" she asked furiously, after he had dragged her away from the guy she had been dancing with. She could see Colin following from a safe distance, making her angrier.

"What is what, love?" he replied, placing his hands on her hips and trying to bring her closer. His eyes were wide and she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

She pushed him away. "I am so tired of your bullshit." Sighing, she was suddenly tired, suddenly sick of it all and her voice reflected that when she spoke. "Just leave me alone."

"Love," he started but at her glare he stopped for a second before starting again, putting emphasis on her name. "Stephanie, look-"

She cut him off, knowing what she had to say was important and that she couldn't take the chance of taking him back, of being hurt again. "No you look, Finn. I'm done, I'm out. I can't keep doing this."

He looked at her, speechless for the first time that he could remember. "Stephanie, wait a second…"

His pleas were upon deaf ears as she was already walking away.

-

It was almost an hour later and Rory was surprisingly having a good time talking to Logan. They had remained at the bar after getting their drinks, but had moved over to side, away from the main groups of people.

"So you just took a year off of Yale?"

He nodded affirmatively. "Yup and it was one of the best things that I have ever done."

"But you sunk a yacht." Rory was in disbelief; not seeing how someone could sink a yacht and act so irresponsible and call it the best thing that they had done. Yet at the same time she was fascinated.

He laughed and leaned closer to her under the pretense of the loud music. "Don't look at me like that. I needed to do it."

"You needed to do it?" she repeated doubtfully.

"I don't mean that I needed to sink the yacht. I mean that I needed to get away for a while, I needed to be someone else even if it was only temporary." He took a swig from his drink and smiled at her as if he knew that she understood completely.

Rory smiled, almost wistfully and in that moment she felt like she had a lot in common with this man. She took a sip of her drink as well before placing it on the surface in front of her, suddenly feeling awkward, even though it had been him who had bared his soul. When she looked up at him, she could see the understanding in his eyes and it comforted her.

"I should get going." Though she spoke softly, the moment had been broken and Logan straightened up in his seat.

"I'll walk you back." He was already standing up, picking up his jacket that had been carelessly strewn across the back of the chair next to him.

"It's not far; I'll be fine." Rory stood up as well, smiling at the bartender and signaling that she didn't want anymore to drink as he reached for her glass. When she noticed that Logan was waiting for her with a smile on her face, she shook her head and resigned herself to being escorted back to her room. "There's nothing I can say that will stop you from walking me back, is there?"

"Nope, now c'mon, it's getting late." He grinned mischievously, gesturing for her to go first.

Rory paused, surveying the party quickly. "I should find Steph; I don't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"You haven't talked to her at all tonight, what's the point in talking to her only to say goodbye?" he pointed out rationally.

"It's the polite thing to do." Still craning her head to find Stephanie in the crowd, Rory didn't see the smile spread across Logan's face.

"She left about an hour ago after Finn finished making a fool of himself." He leaned back on his heels and casually placed his hands in his pockets, adopting an innocent expression.

"What do you mean she left?" Rory whirled around to face Logan, an incredulous look on her face.

"She left," he repeated simply as if he were talking to a child. Putting a hand on her arm, he began to gently lead her out of the dorm. "Now c'mon, you should be getting home."

They were out of the room and walking down the hall, this time away from the noise, before Rory could get the chance to say anything.

"You knew that I was waiting there for her but you didn't bother to tell me that she had left?" she asked disbelievingly, crossing her arms over her chest.

He shrugged. "I thought that we were having a good conversation and I didn't want it be ruined by you leaving." He smiled at her. "Don't tell me that you didn't have a good time tonight."

"I did but…"

"Nope, no buts. You had a good time, I had a good time; it's all good."

Rory sighed noisily, making her companion laugh. She was silent for a moment, thinking. "What's your last name?" she asked abruptly, suddenly realizing that he had never told her.

Logan didn't seem surprised by the sudden question. "What's yours?" he countered, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I asked you first." She couldn't bring herself to care that she sounded childish.

He smiled at the pout on her face. "And I asked you second."

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" she asked, turning to look Logan in the eye. They had approached Rory's dorm while they had been talking and so she reached into her pocket to get out her key, knowing that Paris would already be asleep.

"You're a journalism major; you'll figure it out eventually." He leaned forward a little as she unlocked her door and began to turn the handle. "Good night Rory."

"Good night Logan." She watched as he walked down the hall, hands in his pockets before she opened the door completely and stepped in.

It was only once she had closed the door and began to maneuver her way through the dark room that she realized that she had never told Logan her major.

-

Rory woke late the next morning, throwing off her whole day. She had expected to see Stephanie waiting for her when she finished her last class, eager to tell her what had gone down at the party the previous night. It disgruntled her to find no one was waiting for her and it bothered her to realize that she cared; she hadn't even known these people a month ago.

It was only later when she was waiting in line-up for her afternoon dose of caffeine that she ran into anyone that she recognized from the party the previous night.

"Hey!"

Rory heard the voice from behind her, but ignored it, assuming that the person meant someone else, as she received her beverage and, smiling at the barrister, turned to make her way back to her dorm.

"Hey!" There was an arm on Rory's shoulder, making her turn around in surprise.

"Finn?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow and taking a quick sip of her coffee, knowing that she would need caffeine to get through this conversation.

He smiled at her, panting slightly from racing across the courtyard to talk to her. "I'm sorry love, but I don't recall your name?" He posed it as a question, waiting for her to fill in the blanks.

"It's Rory," she answered; suspicious to what he was doing calling after her if he didn't even know her name.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said, smiling at her charmingly. At the skeptical look on her face, the smile ebbed away. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."

She raised an eyebrow. "You want to talk to me but you don't even know my name?"

"Correction: I didn't know your name but I do now." He smiled again although this time it was pleadingly. "I just need a minute of your time."

After taking a minute to survey his face, Rory finally nodded. "Okay, we can talk."

"Good." He pulled her out of the way of the passing students, over to a nearby bench. Sitting down, he gestured for her to do the same. "Okay so I know that this is weird considering that you don't really know me and…"

Rory smiled. "Finn you're rambling," she pointed out, interrupting him.

He smiled back, taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair. "I need your help."

"You need my help?" Rory repeated slowly in disbelief. "What could you possibly need my help with?" Before Finn could open his mouth to answer her question, she had already begun to speak again. "Unless you're talking about Steph, but you're not because you got into Yale and so you couldn't possibly be that stupid."

"Rory, c'mon." He smiled sadly, looking down in this lap where his hands were clasped. "Just hear me out, you promised that we could talk."

She thought for a minute, taking a sip of her coffee before nodding. "Fine, talk." She leaned back on the bench. "But I don't understand why you're asking me. I've only known Stephanie for a couple weeks."

Finn shrugged, absentmindedly playing with the hem of his shirt. "I know, love, but Steph doesn't have that many friends besides Logan and Colin." He wanted to add himself to that list but knew that the two of them had honestly never been friends; there had always been something more there. Anticipating her next question, he continued, "Sure, she's outgoing but she doesn't usually spend more than one party or one dinner hanging out with the same person."

She nodded. "Why can't you ask Colin or Logan for help?"

"Colin and Logan won't help me; they try to avoid our problems. Besides, I don't want their help, love, I want yours." His face took on a pleading expression as he added, "Please."

Rory nodded and smiled slightly as she took the last drink from her coffee cup and tossed it into the garbage can beside her. She turned back to Finn and folded her hands on her lap. "Go on, I'm listening."


	5. Moments

Rory sighed for what felt like the thousandth time that hour. Resting her head in her hands for a moment before looking back up at the man sitting across from her, she tried to remember the reason why she had agreed to help him. He looked back, smiling in satisfaction.

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" he asked as his smile grew, obviously not noticing the look on her face.

"Finn," Rory started, biting her lip trying to figure out how to discourage his latest plan tactfully. "While that plan is certainly unique, I don't think that it's quite what you're looking for."

"You hate it," he replied bluntly, pouting dramatically before sighing and putting his head down on the table. "We're never going to figure this out and I'm never going to get her back." His voice was muffled and she had to strain to hear it.

Putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, she tried to squelch her own doubts. "We'll figure something out eventually."

Bringing his head off the table to look at her, his expression turned serious. "What if it's too late, what if she's already found someone else." He sighed. "She was serious this time, I know it. She isn't going to wait around for me anymore. I fucked everything up."

"And now you're trying to rectify the situation. Yes, you did mess things up with Steph but in order to succeed at making things right you have to suck up your self pity."

Finn smiled. "That's exactly the attitude I was looking for. It's good to see that you're taking this seriously." Rory opened her mouth to argue that her attitude had been fine all along and she had always taken this seriously but he interrupted her. "Now c'mon love, we really need to get back to work if I'm going to get Steph back."

-

"Logan! Colin!"

Finn's sudden shout had shook Rory out of her thoughts. It was almost an hour later and the two of them were still located at the same bench, staring at the same ground, united for the same cause. Looking up, she could see the familiar blond man and a brunet making their way towards her and Finn. Her and Logan's last conversation drifted to the front of her mind and she poked the man next to her in the stomach.

"Finn," she hissed, trying to inconspicuously catch his attention until he finally turned his head to listen to her. "What's Logan's last name?"

"Now, now Rory, I believe that's what we call cheating." Logan's chastising voice interrupted their conversation before Finn could answer her. He turned towards his Australian friend. "Don't tell her anything Finn."

Rory could feel her face starting to flush. "I wasn't cheating," she protested, making Logan raise an eyebrow skeptically.

"You weren't using your journalism skills."

Her eyes narrowed. "How did you know that I'm a journalism major?"

He smirked. "A true journalist never gives up his sources."

Rory smiled in triumph. "So you're a journalism major too."

He raised his eyebrows, a small smile on his face. "Maybe, maybe not. I guess you'll just have to find out."

Before Rory could respond, the brunet standing next to Logan cleared his throat meaningfully, looking at her pointedly.

"Sorry Colin, you haven't met Rory yet, have you?" Without waiting for a response, Finn started making introductions. "Colin, Rory. Rory, Colin." He leaned back on the bench, his job now officially down.

"Hi." Rory smiled.

Colin nodded in response and smiled back slightly. They stood there in silence for a moment, not quite sure what to say to each other when Finn spoke up.

"I've got it!" Grinning he jumped up from the bench, holding his arms up in triumph. The others had no time to comment for he was already running down the path, pushing people out of his way in his rush to get to his destination.

Colin sighed, watching until his friend was out of sight before turning to Rory. "He didn't get another STD did he?"

-

Tristan tossed his worn bags into the trunk of his car, eager to put them down after dragging them from his dorm. Over the last couple months, his laundry had really built up and, as a result, he had over four bags full of dirty clothes to take home to be washed. He grinned, remembering that just a year ago he wouldn't have had the nerve to bring home dirty laundry, that it would have been unheard of in the Dugrey household. Actually, last year Tristan hadn't even bothered coming home unless ordered, so anything was an improvement.

"Tristan!"

He turned to see Curtis, a close friend of his, approaching with a smile on his face. Closing the trunk after throwing the last bag in its depths, he turned and smiled back.

"Hey man."

"Going home?"

Tristan nodded. "Just for a couple of days." Running a hand through his already tousled hair, he mentally ran down his check-list, trying to make sure that he had remembered to bring everything.

Curtis nodded and looked away from his friend. "I saw Caitlyn the other day."

His eyebrow rose. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and you know what she told me?" Without waiting for a response, he continued. "She told me that the two of you went out for coffee."

Tristan furrowed his brows, confused at Curtis' tone of voice. "Yeah, we hung out but we're friends, we're allowed to hang out."

Curtis narrowed his eyes before sighing and putting his hands in his pockets. "She knows that the two of you are just friends?"

Tristan nodded.

"You've done nothing that could be classified as being more than friendly?"

He shook his head before finding his voice. "What's all this about, Curtis? You know that I told her that we're just friends and that's all we'll ever be. So what's your problem?"

He sighed clearly agitated. "I'm worried about her. She doesn't deserve to be played. I don't want her to be part of your games."

Tristan could feel anger rising in him. "You're fucking kidding me, right?" He laughed bitterly. "You really think that low of me?"

Curtis looked away.

"Forget this." Tristan jerked open the driver's door and got in his car, quickly starting the engine and putting it in reverse. He could see Curtis in his review mirror, watching him drive away. As he put more and more distance between them, he could feel his anger ebbing away.

Was he really that bad of a person that even one of his best friends doubted his character?

-

Textbooks were strewn across the couch and although her laptop was situated in her lap with her hands poised to type, the words just weren't coming. Rory sighed as she won her umpteenth game of solitaire and closed the laptop, tossing it lightly to the side. She just couldn't concentrate.

After Finn had run off to win his girl back, Rory had made an excuse about homework and had left Logan and Colin to their own devices. She was still trying to determine whether she had imagined that look of disappointment on Logan's face.

Leaning her head back against the couch and closing her eyes, she debated what to do. On one hand, it would be beneficial to finish her work for the week now and get it over with. On the other hand, she really wasn't up to it and knew that whatever work she produced today would definitely not be her best work. She sighed again, when she was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

Taking her time as if not appear too eager, she stood up, stretched, and leisurely made her way towards the door. Opening it, she could not suppress the look of surprise on her face as she came face to face with Logan.

"Hey."

"Hey Rory," he said with an easy smile, making no move to come in. "We're all getting together to celebrate Steph and Finn's reunion and we thought that you might like to come."

Rory smiled. "Finn and Steph got back together?"

"That they did." He rocked on his heels slightly as he waited for her to either reject or accept his invitation before he realized that she had ignored everything that had followed the fact that Steph and Finn had got back together. "I'm sure that Steph will tell you all about it if you come out with us tonight."

Rory blinked, looking behind her at the couch with all of her school stuff piled on it. She thought of the consequences of going out instead of staying in to study and she thought of everything that was on her to do list that could be done that night. She thought of every possible logical reason not to go and had her mind made up that it was best not to.

And then Logan smiled charmingly, already backing up out of the dorm as if he knew that she would agree, not aware of her inner battle. And Rory found herself smiling back at him, picking up her coat that was strewn by the door.

"Let's go," she said, in that moment not caring about anything else but seeing him smile again.

-

"Well actually the idea stemmed from the two of you actually," Finn was saying, gesturing with the beer bottle that he held in his hand with Stephanie at his side. She was harmlessly flirting with the waiter who came to refresh their drinks but Finn didn't seem to care, so secure in their new relationship.

They were eating dinner at a restaurant that Rory had only been to once with Tristan over the summer. She remembered the food to be exquisite though, but despite that, had only ordered part of what she usually would have had she been with her mother or her closer friends. She didn't know these people well enough, other than Stephanie, to subject them to the Gilmore eating habits

"The two of us?" Rory repeated, looking at Logan who smiled and shrugged back equally confused by Finn's proclamation.

"What about me?" Colin asked, pouting slightly. He tried to look pathetic and would have succeeded if Steph hadn't poked him the ribs, making him laugh.

"You had no part in reconciliation," Finn replied airily.

"How did we have a part in it?" Rory asked again, gesturing between her and Logan with a confused expression on her face.

"Well technically Logan brought it up first but it was all because of you. Therefore the idea came from the two of you."

Logan smirked. "I'll drink to that." He lifted up his glass and did just that.

Rory brought a forkful of food to her mouth and, after swallowing, persisted on her line of questioning. "What was the idea?"

Finn smiled proudly, making Steph roll her eyes at him. "He had the brilliant idea of putting out a full page spread in the newspaper for me," she explained, rolling her eyes again as she told the story. "Luckily I ran into him and stopped him from publicly humiliating both of us."

Finn frowned. "It was a good idea. Don't tell me that you wouldn't have been flattered love?" He looked down at Steph who smiled back and reached up to kiss him.

Logan rolled his eyes at Rory, who managed a small smile despite the tightening in her chest as realization hit her.

She wanted a relationship.

She wanted what Finn and Stephanie had, albeit without all the drama and heartbreak. She wanted someone who would be there for her after classes, someone who would drag her away from her studying when she was overworking herself. She wanted someone who she could rely on, someone who would always be there for her.

Smiling, she become conscious of the fact that this new yearning for a relationship meant that she was moving past what had happened the previous summer with Dean. Looking up from the table top that she had been staring at, she met Logan's eyes. Raising her barely touched alcoholic beverage that Finn had insisted on ordering for her, she touched it gently to Logan's.

"Cheers."

-

She could almost see it, she just needed to crane her neck a little bit further and he needed to move his hand an eighth of an inch to the right. Moving closer without being obvious was harder than it looked and the two drinks that she had consumed earlier were not making it easier. Finally, she had caught a glimpse and, after a moment of scrutiny, could make out the first four letters. Hunt. Hunter? Huntington?

"That's cheating." Rory looked up to see Logan looking at her with a smirk on his face, his credit card with his last name printed in bold letters safe in his pocket. She frowned, disappointed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, smiling innocently.

He snorted. "Sure you don't."

"No seriously, I don't. How is that cheating? I'm using my journalistic skills and that's what you told me to do."

He smirked. "So you do what I tell you to do? That can come in handy." His voice was heavy with innuendo, making Rory flush slightly.

Rolling her eyes, she tried to ignore the heat she could feel from his arm that was draped over the back of her chair. She couldn't remember when it had appeared there but it had felt natural. And it had stayed there throughout the entire dinner up until now, after dessert had been consumed and all their excuses for one more drink had tired even Finn.

Pushing back their chairs, the group stood up one at a time, stretching after being seated for the last two hours. Rory found her shoulders were feeling cold after the loss of contact with Logan, making her frown slightly.

"Don't worry," Logan whispered in her ear, making Rory look up in confusion, suddenly filled with the irrational worry that he could read her mind. "You'll figure it out eventually."

Rory sighed as she realized that he was talking about her hunt for his last name and smiled. "I know I will. I would have earlier if you didn't keep stopping me." She pouted exaggeratedly, making him laugh.

He stepped closer to her as they made their way out of the restaurant under the pretense of being unable to hear her. "You'll find another way. I know you will."

She grinned. "Glad to see you don't doubt me." She furrowed her brows. "Hunter?"

"Hunter?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Shrugging, a corner of her mouth quirked up and she smiled. "Yeah, that doesn't really seem to fit, does it?"

He laughed. "Hunter?" he asked again. "It's so… common."

"And of course you wouldn't be caught dead with a common name." She rolled her eyes as they stepped out into the cool autumn air and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Of course," he agreed with a grin.

-

Finn wrapped his arms around his shivering girlfriend and pulled her close. Stephanie was his girlfriend, he was her boyfriend. He still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Pulling her closer, he nuzzled her neck and smiled when she tilted her head for better access.

"Are you having fun?" he asked in a low voice.

She smiled, looking him in the eye. "I am." Playfully poking him in the stomach, she continued. "I'm glad you finally shaped up."

He raised an eyebrow. "I finally shaped up? You're the reason that we were dating other people from the beginning!"

She rolled her eyes. "Let's not play the blame game," she said patronizingly.

"Oh yeah? What game should we play instead?" His voice was low and full of innuendo, making Steph shiver from more than the cold.

She tilted her head, turning around in his arms. "I don't know." She bit her lip. "Why don't we go back to my dorm and see?"

He grinned in response, leaning in to touch his lips to hers.

-

Rory sighed as she saw Finn and Steph having a moment and knew that she would be left alone with Logan and Colin in a minute. Not that that was a bad thing, although she sometimes felt like the guys of the group were just putting up with her because she was friends with Steph.

"Shall we then?" Logan asked, holding an arm out to Rory who took it with a roll of her eyes and a smile.

"We shall," Colin put in. He looked towards Steph and Finn and called, "Hey, are you guys coming?" Lowering his voice, he added, "Ten bucks says they aren't."

Logan shook his head with a laugh. "I don't take fool's bets, McCrae."

"Yeah, you just make them Huntz…" He was unable to continue as Logan had leaned forward and covered his mouth with his hand, a stern look on his face.

"Don't say it," he warned, looking over at Rory who was pouting that she had been unable to hear the rest.

"Huntz?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of name is Huntz?"

Colin frowned as Logan took his hand away, wiping his mouth before asking, "Why can't I say your last name?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Logan thinks that I should find it out on my own."

Colin met Logan's eyes, knowing immediately that Logan didn't want Rory to know his last name at all, that he didn't want her to look at him differently which she inevitably would if she found out. He wondered why he cared, why this would be such a big deal to his friend who had gone his whole life being treating differently because of his last name.

And then realization struck him.

Logan Huntzberger had a crush.

Colin grinned to himself; Logan Huntzberger did not have crushes, at least not since seventh grade. He couldn't even remember the last time his friend had mooned over a girl. How the mighty had fallen.

And oh, how he was going to enjoy this.

-

Rory smiled as Logan offered to walk her to her dorm. After Finn and Steph had left, Colin had made an excuse and left, leaving just the two of them remaining. After sharing a cab back to campus, they began making their way towards Rory's dorm.

"So did you have a good time tonight?" Logan asked, breaking the silence that had engulfed them since getting out of the taxi.

"I did." She smiled. "Thanks for inviting me, Huntz."

"Huntz?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Rory shrugged. "Well you won't tell me your full last name so I have to make do with what I have."

"And so you're going to call me Huntz?" He frowned slightly, remembering times when he had heard his father being called that. Any nickname that his father had ever held, he did not want to be associated with.

She patted his shoulder reassuring. "Don't worry; I'll Google you in the morning." She shook her head as she saw his smirk and spoke before he could say anything. "Yes, I know, dirty."

He laughed. "Rory keep your mind out of the gutter," he teased, as they came up to her dorm. "So I'll see you later?" he asked, ignoring how badly he wanted her to say yes.

"It's inevitable, isn't it?" she said, smiling slightly as she unlocked her door and turned around, leaning against it.

Her smile disappeared as he leaned in closer, and suddenly the mood turned from playful to something else, something heavier. She couldn't think, couldn't make a coherent sound.

"Good-night," he whispered and then he leaned forward and touched his lips to her.

She closed her eyes instinctively, putting her hands lightly on his upper arms as he moved closer, putting his hands on her waist.

"Good-night," she whispered back, as they pulled apart, opening her eyes slowly. She backed up, turning the knob of the door and slipping inside, throwing him one last smile.

Once she was inside and had closed the door, she resisted the urge to squeal. He had kissed her, he likes her. She smiled brightly, tossing her coat on the couch. She knew that she would soon be panicking about the meaning of the kiss and so, for the moment, she was relishing in the feeling that had engulfed her when his lips had touched hers.

"Good night?" A voice came from her left and she spun, surprised, for she hadn't noticed another presence in the room.

"Tristan!" she practically squealed, moving across the room quickly to throw herself in his arms. After a moment she leaned back to look him in the eye. "How did you get in here?"

"Paris let me in." He shrugged, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear and noticing how much she looked like a little kid with her eyes shining. "You look happy," he commented, noticing the flush on her cheeks.

"He kissed me," she whispered, feeling girly for a moment, not caring that it was Tristan that she was talking to, just wanting to tell someone.

"Who's he?" he asked curious, for he couldn't remember Rory telling him about any guys.

"His name is Logan," she said with a smile, moving to sit on the couch and pulling Tristan down beside her.

"What's his last name?" he asked idly.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Tristan laughed. "Rory Gilmore, I'm disappointed in you, kissing boys without knowing their last name? At least get his last name before you sleep with him."

Rory blushed. "Tristan," she complained, hitting him lightly in the chest. "So what are you doing here?" she asked, changing the subject.

He put an indignant hand to his chest. "You don't remember?" he asked, acting insulted. At her confused look, he continued, "Family dinner tomorrow night at my house?"

"Oh," she said, as comprehension dawned on her.

"Yeah, I thought that we could hang out tonight but you weren't here." He pouted at her. "And so I spent two hours watching CSPAN with Paris until she left. I'm not sure where though." He contemplated for a moment before shaking his head.

"Why didn't you go home?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Didn't feel like it."

Rory frowned, knowing that there was more to it than that. "Tristan."

Sighing, he knew that she would give up on it until he told her. "I'll tell you later, okay? I just need to figure some stuff out first."

She nodded, accepting what he told her and she settled back on the couch with one of her best friends, turning on the TV. They didn't talk for almost two hours after that, instead just taking comfort in the fact that the other was there. And they didn't need words.

-

The candles illuminated an elegant dining room, complete with crystal chandelier, crystal figurine and crystal champagne glasses. The light reflected on the walls flickered, sending shadows dancing across the room. It was a room designed for the illusion of intimacy despite its large size. The lights were dimmed low and soft jazz could be heard being played from softly from the speakers located on the ceiling.

All in all, the Dugrey dining room was designed to impress.

The first time Rory had been in it, it had unnerved her. She had been afraid to touch anything, afraid that she might sneeze and it would all blow away.

Tristan of course, had no such problems. "It's a room, Rory," he had said half way through the grand tour of his house, rolling his eyes at her stunned expression after he had stomped through the room with no care for the valuables, having been used to such luxury from a young age. Rory had rolled her eyes back and flounced away to the next room, eager to get away from the breakables. Of course the house had plenty of breakables throughout, but the dining room was definitely a congregation of the most impressive.

Over the summer she had become used to eating in there, used to treating priceless antiques like they were plastic. Still when she entered the room for dinner, she had treaded carefully, subconsciously tiptoeing to her seat and sliding in slowly.

Tristan exchanged an amused look with his parents as they watched her take her seat before they took their seats themselves.

"You're not going to break anything Mare," Tristan said with a grin, as he picked up his glass to take a drink.

Rory rolled her eyes. "So you tell me, that's what they all say."

"Who are they, the voices in your head?"

She refrained from a childish gesture such as sticking her tongue out and settled with an indignant, "Maybe."

"Well then you should listen to what they're telling you, Mary."

As the children bantered, the parents exchanged a look from across the table, rolling their eyes. Tristan and Rory refused to tell them what the nickname Mary meant but they could guess, and it made them amused every time.

Cynthia sighed happily, looking around the table at her family. The Dugrey family dinner was a success so far. Most families wouldn't think anything of spending an entire dinner together without yelling or fighting but to Cynthia, it was a big deal. Even though they had had a peaceful summer together, she was still worried that they would slip into old habits, that Tristan would end up resenting her again and that she and Eric would go back to simply cohabiting the same house. She was afraid that Rory would leave, that their togetherness wouldn't last forever. But Cynthia vowed that everything would be okay and that she would make sure that her happily ever after would remain happy.


	6. Uncertainties

_Reviews: Over 100? You guys are awesome! Thanks so much!_

_I'm not sure about this chapter, it wasn't really working for me. Hope you enjoy it anyway!_

* * *

Rory could feel her fingers cramping up but she didn't stop, so intent on getting the words on the page, on getting her voice heard. Inspiration had hit her suddenly two hours previous and so she had detoured from her coffee run and headed straight to the newspaper office. Sighing, she saved her work and leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her hair. Her article wasn't yet up to standard meaning that she still had an hour or so more of work to do.

"Rory!" She turned in her chair, eyes narrowed, as she heard her name being hissed from nearby. Surveying the room quickly, she located the source barely in the door of the office and her eyebrows rose.

"Logan?" she questioned.

He made a shushing motion and gestured for her to follow him out into the hall. Hesitating for a moment, just staring at the empty doorframe, curiosity eventually won and she did as he asked.

"Hey," she said when she located him down the hall. "What was with that?"

He grinned at her and leaned against the wall. "Doyle gets on my nerves," he confided, lowering his voice slightly. "I didn't want him to see me."

Rory looked at him questionably. "You know Doyle?"

Logan nodded and shrugged. "I'm on the paper."

"You're on the paper?" she repeated incredulously.

He smiled sheepishly in response and shrugged again. "So what do you say we go get a cup of coffee or a bite to eat or something?"

She smiled. "Don't think that I didn't notice the subject change." She began walking down the hall, leaving Logan to catch up. "C'mon Huntz, you're buying me the largest cup of coffee that I can find," she called over her shoulder.

He was grinning as he caught up to her.

-

As they walked away from the coffee cart, Rory found herself gazing at the blond beside her out of the corner of her eye. The kiss from the previous night was still on her mind but she was taking her lead from him, who had yet to mention it. Her nerves were getting to her, and she wondered if it had meant anything to him or whether it was just a spur of the moment thing with no meaning behind it. She sighed and stared into the dark liquid that was in the Styrofoam cup she held in her hands.

"So any luck yet?"

Rory looked up from the steaming cup of coffee that she had been savoring to the man in front of her with a questioning look.

"Any luck with what?"

Logan grinned and took a quick sip of his coffee. "Your journalistic endeavors."

She poked him teasingly, pushing away any of her previous thoughts as they slowly walked along the path. "Is that a fancy way of asking if I've figured out your last name yet?"

There was a pause before, "Maybe."

She sighed dramatically. "I'm working on it, Huntz." She frowned. "Do you even know my last name?"

Logan's smile widened. "Of course I do, but in order to comply with my source's wishes, I cannot reveal it to you."

His answer surprised a laugh out of Rory and she was suddenly glad that she had not taken a sip of her coffee just then. She shook her head as if she were disappointed in him. "You are so full of it, Logan."

He just laughed in response.

Rory smiled and tossed her empty coffee cup into a nearby trashcan, catching a glimpse of the time displayed on her watch. Her heart sank as she realized that she needed to go back to her dorm now if she was going to make her next class on time.

"I have to go." She smiled apologetically at Logan. "I have a class pretty soon," she explained, not quite knowing why she felt that she had to justify herself to him.

He nodded, not showing how disappointed he really was. "I'll walk you back to your dorm," he offered, already heading in the direction that she would have to go.

She laughed. "I have no choice, do I?"

Shaking his head, he grinned at her. "You have a choice; I just know which option you're going to pick ahead of time and so I've eliminated the middle ground."

"Oh you know what I'm going to pick ahead of time, do you?" She raised an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Of course," he said with mock arrogance, making her laugh at him.

It was only minutes later that they arrived at her dorm, and Rory tried not to frown that their time together had been cut short. She still didn't know how Logan felt about the previous night, whether that kiss had meant anything to him at all. The panic was now starting to set in, replacing the euphoria that had been present before.

"So I'll see you around?" Logan asked, as Rory dug through the pocket of her jacket trying to locate her key.

She smiled. "Yeah I'll see you around."

He leaned forward until there was barely a breath between them, brushing a hand along her cheek and making her smile. She took a step towards him, anticipating what was going to happen next, forgetting all the doubts that she had been having the previous moment.

His lips were barely a millimeter away from hers and she could feel his breath against her mouth when they were interrupted by the arrival of Paris.

She stopped short at the sight of Logan and Rory and rolled her eyes, her hands moving until they rested on her hips, striking an annoyed pose.

"You could at least move your trysts away from the door Gilmore," she said, brushing past the two of them into the dorm room, effectively breaking the moment that had been brewing between Logan and Rory.

Rory could feel embarrassment welling up inside her; what was she doing? She had spent the last ten minutes panicking about her last kiss with Logan and here she was, about to kiss him again.

"I should go," she mumbled, backing up from him as he leaned forward again. "I'll see you later."

He nodded, moving back as well and trying not to let the confusion show on his face. "Yeah, I'll see you later."

He had barely gotten his words out when Rory had slipped into the dorm room and closed the door behind her. He sighed, pushing his hands into his pocket and making his way towards his dorm, ignoring his thoughts that were telling him to stay and talk to Rory.

Rory slipped into the room, hoping that somehow Paris had forgotten about what she had almost walked in on. No such luck. Thinking that she had made it safely to her room without being interrogated, she gasped with shock when she turned around to see Paris sitting on her bed, idly leaning back with the book that Rory had been reading the previous night in her hands.

She put the book down and got up off the bed. "What the hell was that?"

"Nothing," Rory mumbled, backing out of her room and towards the mini fridge, suddenly feeling parched. Hoping for a moment that Paris had been deterred, she found no such luck when she followed her across the room.

"What do you mean 'nothing'? There was something there. I'm not blind Gilmore!"

Rory rolled her eyes. "I mean that it's nothing that I want to talk about." She popped the top on her soda can and made her way back across the common room to her room.

"You were practically sucking face with Huntzberger; I think that that's something to talk about." Paris threw her hands up to emphasis her point, not noticing that Rory had gone still during her tirade.

Huntzberger. _Huntzberger. _That was Logan's last name, the one that she had spent so long trying to find. Well, actually she had always put her search on the back burner, not trying as hard as she could to figure it out. She claimed that she had other things to do but even when she had the moment, she didn't take it. It didn't seem right. Realization hit her as she began to understand that she didn't want to know his last name, she wanted things to remain the way they were between them. She didn't want last names and birthrights to become an issue.

Rory looked up as she realized that Paris was still talking and she interrupted her. "Paris, its fine." She sat down on her bed, leaning against the headboard and closing her eyes.

"Fine? It's fine?" Paris asked incredulously. "I thought that you had more pride than that Gilmore. Huntzberger is one the biggest users of women and you're falling right into his arms and into his trap, just like he wants you to."

"Logan and I are friends, Paris." Rory sighed and took a sip of her soda. Realizing that she came back to her dorm for a reason, she got up and began gathering the items required for her next class.

Paris snorted but seemed to realize that Rory wasn't really listening to her. "Logan Huntzberger doesn't have girls that are just friends, Rory. And the sooner you realize that, the better off you will be." She left the room and a second later Rory could hear her door slam.

Rory stopped in the middle of picking up her book bag and sighed, leaning against the nearby wall. Was Logan just using her or did he really want something more?

-

Logan looked up from the paper that he had been reading to see Rory standing in line for coffee nearby and he smiled. Wondering how long she had been there and why she hadn't come over to say something, he stood up and stretched before ambling over in her direction.

"Hey," he said, falling into step with her and taking the book bag from her hands without thinking any thing of it. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, obviously surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Hey Logan."

"Haven't found out what comes after Logan yet?" he asked teasingly. "Maybe I overestimated your abilities, Rory."

There was a moment's pause as she appeared to look indecisive. "Nope, not yet," she replied with a smile, even though she seemed nervous somehow.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking at her through narrowed eyes.

She shook her head and with practiced nonchalance said, "No, I'm fine."

"If you're sure." He looked doubtful before grinned at her. "So, how was your class?"

"It was good." Rory frowned, trying to push the memories of what Paris had told her that morning to the back of her mind. "I don't really agree with some of Professor Lipid's opinions and so sometimes his lectures seem longer than they are."

Logan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I had Lipid last year. He's very narrow minded about some things. He can be difficult to get along with."

She smiled, taking the last sip of her coffee before throwing it out. "Today, when he started on-"

"Huntzberger!" a voice called, effectively cutting Rory off.

Logan turned to face the person who called, although he kept an eye on the girl beside him. His eyes narrowed when he noticed that she didn't react at all to hearing his last name. From the short period that he had known her, he had noticed that she was very observant and that you couldn't slip much past her. Obviously, this meant that he being a Huntzberger came as no surprise to her.

The question was: how long had she known and why had she kept it a secret?

Turning back towards Rory after nodding at the person who had yelled his name, he smiled at her. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards the path that they had been walking before they were interrupted.

Rory smiled. "We shall."

"So," Logan started idly, "How long have you known that my last name is Huntzberger?"

She stopped in mid-step, her eyes widening as she turned her head to look at him and she sighed. "My roommate told me when she saw the two of us together earlier today."

He narrowed his eyes trying to remember any possible roommates. "The intense blonde?" he asked, finally putting a face her.

She laughed. "Paris is definitely intense."

He looked at the ground. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew earlier?"

"You didn't want me to know," she stated matter of fact, looking up at him with wide blue eyes.

He raised an eyebrow, surprised by the assurance in her voice. "I didn't?"

She shook her head and sighed. "If you had wanted me to know then you would have told me when we met." He started to say something in reply but she kept going, "Not that I'm saying that it's a bad thing that you didn't. I understand why you didn't. But do you really think that I'll treat you any differently?"

Logan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You will, Rory," he said quietly. "Everybody does in the end. Maybe you won't mean to but you will eventually."

She shook her head and then looked away, not saying anything.

He sighed again. "Look, why don't we just… I don't know." He was silent for a minute, running a hand through his hair. "I need some time to think. I'll see you later?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, see you later." He took her book bag off of his shoulder and passed it back to her, smiling sadly before walking away.

Rory watched him walk away before turning in the opposite direction back to her dorm. She knew that their friendship would never be the same, that they would never have the lightheartedness that had existed until now. It had been a quick decision to not reveal that she had found out his surname and one that she had thought would be more beneficial. Tristan had always hated being treated differently because of his last name and Rory had assumed that Logan would feel the same.

Although if Logan hadn't been a Huntzberger, would she have hesitated to tell him that she had found out his last name?

-

The knock on the door came almost a half hour later and Rory was lounging on the couch channel surfing. Nothing was ever on TV this time of day, meaning that she was really bored and in desperate need of entertainment to be watching it. Stretching, she got up off the couch, smoothing down her hair and tugging on her shirt that had rode up when she flopped on the couch. She pulled the door open; half expecting to see Logan standing there with a smirk on his face. It was somewhat of a surprise, although not a disappointing one, to see Steph standing there instead.

"Hey," Rory said with a grin.

"Hey! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Steph beamed.

"I know." Rory stepped back, gesturing for her friend to come inside. "How have you been?"

Steph settled on the couch and shook her head as Rory gestured towards the fridge. "I've been pretty good." She sighed wistfully. "Finn's been great."

Rory smiled teasingly. "So that's why I haven't seen you lately. You've been spending all your time with Finn." She pouted dramatically. "Ditched for Finn, I'm hurt."

Steph laughed and smiled coyly. "Honey, you obviously haven't seen Finn. Any sane person would drop all of their plans for him."

Her friend laughed, crossing her legs underneath her. "So things are good between the two of you?"

She sighed in response, thinking the question over. "It was awkward at first because we've been seeing other people for so long. I actually almost took this guy's number the other day before realizing that I couldn't because I have a boyfriend." She looked embarrassed.

Rory smiled sympathetically. "I'm sure that Finn's having the same problems."

Steph groaned. "That's what worries me." She stretched, moving off the couch and standing up. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go something to eat."

Rory grinned. "Do you even have to ask?"

"I should know better."

"I'll go get my coat."

She began to walk towards her room when there was a knock on the door. Turning slightly to go in the opposite direction, she headed towards the door.

"I'm so popular today, aren't I?" she asked jokingly over her shoulder to Steph who scrunched up her nose at her in response.

Pulling open the door, she was surprised to come face to face with Logan who was leaning nonchalantly against the door frame with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," she said, still standing with one hand on the door knob. She made no move to back up and let him inside.

"Hey Rory." He looked around her and smiled at Stephanie. "Hey Steph."

"Hey Logan," Steph replied, looking between Rory and Logan with a speculative look on her face. She had obviously missed a lot in the last couple of days. "How about I meet you outside, Rory?"

"You don't have to do that," Rory argued.

Logan smiled at the blonde. "Thanks Steph, Rory will just be a minute."

Rory opened her mouth to argue but, before she could, Steph was already slipping past her and out the door whispering, "You're telling me everything later."

And then they were alone.

Rory stepped back to let him inside, wondering when things had gotten so awkward. She had known that their friendship wouldn't be the same, but she hadn't known that it would be like this.

"I'm sorry," Logan said, running a hand through his hair, showing the nerves that his pride stopped him from voicing. "For doubting you earlier," he clarified at her questioning look.

She nodded. "I'm sorry for lying to you."

He nodded back and smiled. "So we're good?"

"We're good."

There was a comfortable silence before, "You should probably get going. You wouldn't want to keep Steph waiting."

Rory nodded, picking up her jacket and stepping out into the hall. She closed the door behind her and locked it, before turning to look at Logan. "Friends?" she asked, holding out her hand.

He smirked. "Friends," he confirmed, taking her hand in his. With one quick motion he tugged her towards him until his lips were almost on hers. There was a pause where Rory was afraid to breath and then he kissed her.

She found her hands traveling to his back and could feel his hands on her hips. The kiss deepened as they both took a step forward until there was no room between them. They broke apart slowly and Logan smiled when he noticed the blush staining Rory's face.

Rory looked down at her feet and took a step back so that Logan's hands dropped. "Stephanie," she mumbled. "I have to go meet Stephanie." Her eyes were wide as she turned and walked quickly down the hall.

Logan watched her walk away with a smirk on his face. He was getting to her, meaning that she had to feel something more than friendship, meaning that she felt the same as him. He fought the urge to whistle as he made his way to his dorm, knowing that something was happening between him and Rory. And he couldn't be happier.

-

Rory paced the room, running her hand through her hair and dialing a familiar number on the phone that she held tightly in her hand. Sighing with aggravation, she waited impatiently for someone on the other end to pick up the phone. She had fidgeted all through lunch with Steph waiting to make this phone call and then no one was picking up. When a familiar voice greeted her ears, she didn't bother with pleasantries and just plowed straight ahead.

"He kissed me again!" She sat down hard on the bed as her words penetrated. He had kissed her again. Logan Huntzberger had kissed her for the second time. She didn't know what to think.

"Mary?" Tristan asked, smiling at the woman behind the counter as she handed him a wrapped sandwich. He walked out into the cool air, tilting his head to keep his cell phone at his ear as he tried to balance everything that he was carrying.

"He kissed me again!" she repeated, still sitting, dazed on her bed.

Tristan wracked his brain for a moment before finding the name that he was looking for. "Logan kissed you again?"

Rory made an irritated noise. "Yes Logan kissed me again. Who else would I be talking about?" She didn't wait for him to answer before she plowed on. "He kissed me again and I don't know what it means. He didn't even mention the previous one or the almost one that Paris interrupted. I don't even know what it means!"

"Mary," Tristan said as soothingly as he could. He found an empty bench and he sat down, knowing that this would be a long conversation.

"I mean, what does he want from me?" she asked, either not hearing or ignoring her friend's words. "Oh my god, what if that's all he wants from me? What if I'm just the girl that he kisses when he's bored?"

Tristan rolled his eyes even though he knew that she couldn't see him. "I'm sure that there's more to it than that Rory."

"But he hasn't said anything; he hasn't even mentioned us being more than friends. If we are even friends, which I'm not even sure about anymore." She got up from the bed and began pacing again before a thought struck her and she stood completely still. "Oh my god, what if he has a girlfriend?"

"Rory…" Tristan said slowly, putting his head in his hands and massaging his temples. "I'm sure that he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"But what if he does? I mean, she could go to another school or something and he got bored and I was there and not exactly pushing him away." She sunk down on the floor and leaned her head against her bed. "I am a terrible person. I can't believe I did this to that poor girl, I mean she has no idea that I'm kissing her boyfriend. Or he's kissing me. I don't know."

"Rory, slow down a bit and be calm about this." Tristan sighed, wishing that she had chosen to call her mom or Lane instead of him; he was never very good at giving out advice. "I doubt that he has a girlfriend. Didn't you meet him through a friend of yours?"

Rory nodded before realizing that he couldn't see her. "Yeah, Steph introduced us."

"Okay and is Steph the kind of person that would let Logan get away with cheating on his girlfriend?" His voice was quiet and soothing as if he were talking to a small child.

She thought for a moment. "No."

"Okay so now that we know that he doesn't have a girlfriend, we're good right?"

Rory made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. "No we're not good Tristan! I don't know what to do, what does it all mean?"

Tristan sighed, leaning his head against the back of the bench. "From what I can see you have two options. You can sit around, not say anything and wait for him to make a move about being in a relationship with you."

She made a face, not fond of the waiting game that would occur should she choose that option. "And what's the other option?"

He smirked. "Well, if you want to completely blow away my perception of you Mary, you can make the first move. Just go up and kiss him, let him know that the feelings are reciprocated."

She bit her lip, and looked down at her hands. "Isn't that a little bit forward?"

He laughed. "Exactly. Believe me; guys love it when the girl they like is forward."

"But what if he doesn't feel the same way?" she asked, worriedly.

He laughed again. "He feels the same way." He smirked. "How could he not?"

Rory sighed, leaning her head against her bed and closing her eyes. She had a lot to think about. "I'll take your word for it Tris. Thanks for listening to me."

"No problem Mare. I'll try to come down soon so we can hang out, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." He flipped the phone shut, sitting for a minute to figure out how he could rearrange his schedule to go to New Haven for a couple days. He had to make sure that this Logan guy was good enough for his best friend. Sighing, he was reaching for his sandwich when he was interrupted by a voice.

"Hi," said the pretty brunette standing in front of him with a shy smile on her face. "I know that this is going to sound really weird but you're really cute and I've been staring at you for the past, like, five minutes. And I just wanted to tell you that."

Tristan chuckled, not bothering to keep the surprise off of his face. "I'm Tristan." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I'm Mallory." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "And I know that you're probably completely freaked out and this was a mistake and I'm sorry. I'm just going to go." She made a gesture and started to walk off.

"Wait!" Tristan smiled charmingly. "Do you want to go get some lunch with me? I'm starving."

She smiled. "I'd love to."

After a moment, the two of them headed down the path leaving Tristan's lunch lying forgotten on the bench behind him. He grinned to himself as he snuck a sideways glance at the girl beside him. Oh yeah, the forward approach was definitely a turn-on.


	7. Mistakes

"And then he walked me to the front porch-"

"But I thought that the porch light doesn't work?"

Lorelai waved a dismissive hand, almost disturbing the mug of coffee that sat at her elbow. "He fixed it last week. Anyway so we were on the front porch and he kissed me." She sighed, wistfully. "And then he asked me if I wanted to go out with him on Saturday."

Rory stared at her mother for a minute before narrowing her eyes and leaning back in her chair. "This is your big news? That Luke asked you out again?" She rolled her eyes. "He's your boyfriend; of course he wants to go out with you!"

"We have dinner with the devil on Saturday." She wrinkled up her nose at the thought of dinner with her parents. Despite having to go once a week, it never got easier.

"Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa is on Friday." She tilted her head, letting her long hair brush against her shoulder. "You okay, Mom? We've been having Friday Night Dinners for a long time now."

Lorelai shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. "They changed it this week, remember? They're having their annual 'Let's Make Lorelai's Life Miserable' party and, as the guests of honour, we have to attend."

Rory rolled her eyes at her mother. "I'm sure that they planned the party specifically to ruin your life, Mom. Everything they do is directly related to make you miserable."

"It's true!" Her mother insisted. "And the sooner that you learn that, the better off you'll be."

"Have you guys decided what you want yet?" Luke asked, saving Rory from having to reply to her mother.

"You," Lorelai said her voice low as she looked up at her boyfriend through fluttering lashes.

"Not while I'm working." Rory screwed up her face, trying to ignore the insinuation that more went on while he wasn't working.

Lorelai pouted, looking towards her daughter for support who shook her head. "I'll have a double cheeseburger and fries, no lettuce on the burger." She paused. "Actually make it curly fries." There was another pause. "Actually make them chilli fries." She tilted her head in thought as Luke sighed, his pen on his pad on paper ready to write. "But if Rory and I are going shopping, I probably want to hold off on the chilli fries." She looked towards her daughter for agreement who nodded vigorously.

"Cheeseburger and fries coming up," Luke interrupted, turning towards Rory before Lorelai could say anymore. "What can I get you?"

"The same except onion rings instead of fries please Luke." Rory smiled sweetly as Luke left to place their orders.

"Okay, so do we have a plan for today?" Lorelai leaned forward in her seat, careful not to upset the mug sitting in front of her.

Rory thought for a minute. "I thought that we'd hit the shops in New Haven before coming back here for a movie night. There's this really cute new store that I have been dying to go to."

Lorelai grinned. "Sounds good but I want to make a stop at that store that we went to last month. I want to return the shirt that I bought."

Rory frowned in thought. "The blue one? It looked great on you."

Her mother shook her head, taking a sip of her coffee. "It looked good in the store but after I got home and looked in the mirror it just didn't work for me. I looked mediocre and everybody knows that I can do much better than mediocre."

Rory laughed and leaned back as Luke brought them their lunch. "Okay so we'll hit the stores in New Haven, including the place where we're taking back your shirt and then come back here for a movie night."

Lorelai nodded. "That sounds good. Finally, a little time with my daughter!"

Her daughter looked embarrassed. "We spend lots of time together," she insisted, feeling guilty for blowing off nights with her mom in the summer to spend time with Tristan instead.

Lorelai opened her mouth to protest but then looked up to see the guilty expression on her daughter's face. Sighing, she took a sip of her coffee before replying. "Yeah, I'm just overreacting, kid. Two days apart seems like forever."

Rory smiled, relieved. "Well you're stuck with me this weekend." She paused. "Except for tomorrow night when we're apparently both stuck at Grandma's party."

Lorelai groaned in response.

-

Tristan tossed his bags into the back of his car, ready for the trek to Hartford once again. His mother had phoned him the previous night and had made him feel guilty enough to agree to come home for the weekend even though there wasn't another Dugrey family dinner for another couple of weeks. It hadn't taken her long to convince him to drive up, however, as he was already contemplating going to meet Rory's new wannabe-boyfriend. Rory may be oblivious to the feelings that Logan had for her, but Tristan could tell even without meeting the guy.

"Tristan!" called a voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Caitlyn standing there with a smile on her face, her hair thrown up haphazardly. "Hey Cait," he said with a grin.

Her eyes flicked from his packed car to his face and back. "Going somewhere?" she asked, walking towards him slowly, adding a little extra swing in her hips. Just because he had decided that ultimately they were better off friends didn't mean that she wasn't going to make him regret that decision.

Tristan nodded, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Yeah, I'm going home for the weekend."

Caitlyn frowned and slipped her hands into the pockets in her jeans. "I thought that you went home last weekend?"

"I did. My mom wanted me to come home again." He shrugged self consciously.

Caitlyn smiled softly at him, ignoring the pang in her heart. She hated that he was so sweet, that he would go all the way home just because his mother missed him. And she hated that he obviously wasn't as into her as she was into him. Sighing, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and thought for a minute before making a decision. "Do you want to go grab some lunch before you go?" she asked, trying to look irresistible to him.

He smiled back at her and checked his watch for time. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Tristan!" called a female voice for the second time behind him.

Turning, Tristan could only feel dread as he came face to face with the girl who he had spent the last couple of days with. He knew that nothing good could come out of her and Caitlyn meeting.

"Hey Mallory," he said, trying to act casual. Ignoring the way Caitlyn's eyes narrowed was harder than it looked.

"Hey." She smiled at him before looping her hands around his neck and giving him a quick kiss.

He pulled away rather quickly, not wanting to rub it in Caitlyn's face. After talking to Curtis and other mutual friends it had become clear that she was still not over him. Pretending to be oblivious to her feelings seemed to be his only option and he was getting quite good at it. He turned to face Caitlyn, ready to make introductions and hopefully smooth things over. But when he turned, there was nothing he could say to make things better.

She was already gone.

-

"I'm bored," complained Steph to an uninterested audience. After spending the last hour watching her boyfriend and his friends playing poker and flirting with the girls that had shown up, she was itching to leave.

"Go find something to do then," Colin replied, taking a swig of his beer. Steph rolled her eyes, wondering why she was friends with them for the millionth time.

"C'mon, it's only three. Why don't you guys take a break and take the game back up in an hour or two?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Give it up Steph. We're not stopping the game in the middle." He frowned at Robert, trying to see past his poker face.

"Finn," she whined, turning towards her boyfriend and running a hand through his hair.

"Steph," he whined back. "We can hang out tonight, love. I promised the guys that we'd have the game today."

She stood up, flipping her hair and scowling. None of the guys looked up and she made her way towards the door. "Fine, I'll go find someone else to do!"

"Don't you mean 'something else to do'?" Finn called after her as she reached the door.

A smirk was plastered on her face as she turned her head to look at her boyfriend. "I stand by what I said."

Opening the door, she stepped out into the cool air and looked around. Honestly, she had no clue what to do. Most of her friends were busy and almost everyone else was in the room that she had just vacated. Steph grinned as a brilliant thought hit her. When in doubt, go shopping!

Almost a half hour later, she was aimlessly wandering around the shops in New Haven. Shopping was never as much fun by yourself, she had quickly realized but that hadn't stopped her yet. Spotting a store with a really cute blue dress displayed in the window, she cut across the street, ignoring all jaywalking laws.

The bell on top of the door made a sound as she made her way towards the back where she could see the dress hanging on a rack. Before she got very far, a voice behind her called out.

"Stephanie!"

She looked up to see Rory standing there, barefoot and wearing the blue dress. Trying to squelch the jealousy as she saw that her friend looked better in the dress than she ever could, she smiled and made her way over.

"Hey," she replied with a smile. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good." Rory smiled back, looking at her self in the mirror. She frowned slightly and turned to see how she looked from a different angle.

"I love the dress," Steph gushed. "That was actually why I came into this store."

Rory laughed, looking back at her friend. "Me too. Well actually my mom dragged me into this store because of this dress."

"It looks great on you," her friend complimented.

"Thanks," she accepted the compliment with a smile. "I'm not sure whether I'm going to get it, though."

"You're getting it," half sang a voice from behind a rack of black dresses. Lorelai emerged a second later with a short black dress in her hands which she held up against her and thrust out a hip. "What do you think?" she asked, striking another pose. "Short enough to give my mom a heart attack?"

Rory contemplated for a moment, putting a finger to her chin to emphasis the deep thought that she was in. "Something's missing."

"Fishnets and stilettos," Steph put in, running an eye up and down the dress critically. "And maybe a slit up to the thigh."

Lorelai looked at the new arrival for a moment before smiling. "I never got your name."

"Sorry," Rory said looking sheepish. "Mom this is Steph. Steph this is my mom, Lorelai."

"It's nice to meet you." Steph smiled at Lorelai as Rory went back into the changing room, after examining the dress that she was wearing from every angle.

"It's nice to meet you too." Lorelai looked around the store, realizing that there was no one there that she expected would be friends with Steph. "Are you here by yourself?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my friends have a very important poker game today and I needed to get out." She rolled her eyes. "I couldn't find anything else to do."

Lorelai nodded. "When in doubt, go shopping. You should come with us."

Steph immediately started to decline, not wanting to interrupt a mother-daughter bonding day. "No, it's fine. I don't mind shopping by myself."

Lorelai shook her head. "It's always more fun in groups and Rory doesn't mind if you come along, do you babe?" she called in the direction of the changing rooms.

"I don't mind!" Rory called back, her voice slightly muffled.

Steph grinned. "Okay sure, sounds like fun."

Lorelai smiled back. "Great, now you seem to have good authority on what will give mothers heart attacks. I could use you."

-

"I like her," Lorelai said, fiddling with the volume of the car radio until the sound was loud enough that people in passing cars were glancing over.

"I'm glad," Rory replied, turning the volume down a little. Her mother immediately turned it back up and she glared, pretending to be mad.

Ten minutes later they were pulling up outside of the grocery store to get some supplies for their movie night. Rory closed the car door behind her, careful not to slam it too loud; Taylor was very serious about sound laws.

"So I was thinking that we should pick up some food from Al's as well," Lorelai said as they reached the door to the market.

Rory nodded. "Do you want me to go pick some up now?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, try some first though."

"Al doesn't give out free samples."

"I'm sure someone would be willing to share their dinner with you."

Rory scrunched up her nose. "That's gross, who knows what diseases would be on the food?"

Lorelai laughed. "Yeah, that's almost as bad as bathroom mints," she teased.

"I was nervous, okay!" She pushed her laughing mother gently.

"Yeah, sure," Lorelai said, still laughing. "I'll meet you back at the car in ten minutes, okay?"

Rory nodded and walked down the sidewalk towards Al's. Wrapping her arms around her midsection to ward off the cold, she let her mind drift. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the two people heading towards her until she was almost on top of them.

She looked up, her eyes widening. "Oh, hey Dean, hey Lindsay," she said, trying to smile.

"Hi," Lindsay replied quietly, smiling back. Dean merely nodded before looking away, still ashamed by the memories that surfaced when he saw Rory.

"How are things going?" Rory asked awkwardly, wishing that she could think of an excuse to get out of there.

"Well," Lindsay's smile widened as she exchanged a look with her husband, eager to share the news with anyone who would listen, even if it was her husband's ex-girlfriend. "I'm pregnant."

Rory could feel her mind go blank, overloaded by all the thoughts that had raced through her mind in a matter of seconds. "Wow… that's great. Congratulations." Her smile felt fake and she hated it, thinking that she was completely over Dean, over everything that happened. She should be happy for them.

"Thanks Rory," Dean said quietly, wrapping an arm around his beaming wife.

Rory attempted to smile again and was confident that this time it looked less like a grimace. "I should be going, my mom's expecting me back with Al's…" she trailed off, almost waiting for permission to leave.

Lindsay and Dean nodded and she turned and walked down the sidewalk, not looking back. And she knew that that chapter in her life was over. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, knowing that any remaining piece of her that was still idealizing her sixteen-year-old self's relationship was gone. Even though in some ways she felt relieved, some pain still lingered.

And if a few tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and slipped down her cheeks, there was no one around to judge her for it.

-

Rory stood in the corner of the party, sipping champagne and watching the partygoers. The waiter who was walking around with trays of champagne flutes had looked doubtful when she had reached for one but had refrained from asking her age. Rory was grateful to escape that humiliation and had vowed to make her current glass last as long as possible just in case she wasn't as lucky the next time.

After a moment of watching people mingle, she downed the rest of the champagne and placed the empty glass on a nearby table, not caring that there was no coaster protecting the century old wood. Ever since she had got to her grandmother's party, she had been antisocial, not caring that it was impolite. Her mother had somehow gotten out of the get together and was out with Luke instead, leaving Rory to fend for herself.

Slipping past cliques of people, she finally made it to the doors leading to outside and pushed them open, following the path until she reached the pool house. She had it on good authority that her grandparents kept a spare key under the flower pot in case of emergencies. It only took her a minute or so to find it and she slipped it into the lock and pushed the door open, kicking off her shoes in the process. Immediately she flopped down on the couch, curling her legs up underneath her, closing her eyes and leaning her head back.

It was a little less than five minutes later that she heard footsteps and felt the presence of someone in the room with her. She didn't bother opening her eyes, knowing that they would say something eventually. Her body jerked a little in shock when she felt the couch sink down a little to her right.

"Are you alright, Mary?" asked a familiar voice, causing Rory to open her eyes in surprise.

"Tristan!" she squealed, showing enthusiasm for the first time since she had run into Dean and Lindsay the previous night. She leaned over and hugged him, holding on tight and pressing her face into his chest.

It was only once she had pulled back and he was wiping tears from her cheeks that she realized that she was even crying.

-

Logan Huntzberger was bored, meaning that he was at another of his mother's friend's parties. He got dragged to one at least once a month, sometimes two or three during the holiday season. This party wasn't turning out too badly as society parties go, however. Finn and Colin had both been invited and he could see more than one person around his age that could be persuaded to come to his sub-parties. Who would really refuse an invited to his sub-party anyway? Huntzberger sub-parties were legendary.

"Emily and Richard have a pool house, don't they Colin?" Logan asked his friend with a smirk on his face.

"I believe they do, Logan. I believe they do," Colin replied, his smirk mirroring Logan's.

"Finn!" he called, quietly enough not to attract unwanted attention.

"Yeah?" Finn sauntered over with Steph in reply.

"Can you find some of Richard's alcohol? I'm sure he has some good stuff stashed away. We'll meet you in the pool house around back."

Finn nodded and headed off to scrounge around Richard's study, knowing from experience that that was where the good stuff was kept. Logan gestured towards his friends and they left, making sure not to pass any of their parents on their way to the door. When they reached the door to the pool house, Steph slipped a bobby pin from her hair, as was custom and Colin went to work on the lock.

Within minutes they were inside flopping down on the couches and kicking off their shoes. Finn arrived shortly after, alcohol in hand and a grin on his face. He settled down beside Steph, leaning his head against hers and smiling. Logan poured each of them a generous glass of scotch and held it up, watching as the others followed his example.

"Cheers," he said, gently touching the glass to everyone else's and laughed as Finn hit his too hard, causing the drinks to spill down everyone's arms. No one cared, for this was tradition, the one constant in their lives.

"Cheers," they all echoed, before taking a sip of their drink and leaning back in their seats, content in their escape from the party.

Only a few minutes had passed when they heard footsteps outside of the pool house and the sounds of a key in the lock. They looked at each other, none of them eager to have to face the person on the other side of the door. There was a mad dash for shoes and glasses and soon everyone was crowded into a bedroom off of the main room.

When five minutes had passed without a sound being made from the room they had just exited, they looked at each other, wondering whether to risk going back. Finn had just taken a step towards the door when they heard a voice from the other room, causing him to jump back as if shocked.

"Are you alright, Mary?"

There was a pause as Logan, Colin, Finn and Steph all pressed their ears up against the door, eager to hear the girl's response.

"Tristan!"

Steph's eyes widened, as did Logan's causing Colin and Finn to look at them questionably.

"Rory?" Steph whispered and Colin and Finn's eyes widened as well.

Why was some guy calling Rory Mary?

They all pressed their ears closer against the door, eager to hear the conversation.

-

"Rory? What's wrong?" Tristan asked softly, wiping the wetness off of his friend's cheeks.

She took a deep breath, trying to suck up the tears that were slipping down her face. "Nothing," she replied sniffling a bit. "What are you doing here?"

Tristan frowned, knowing that something was definitely wrong with her but she wouldn't be Rory Gilmore if she didn't try to run away from her problems, literally or figuratively. "My mom wanted me to come down this weekend and I figure that I could kill two birds with one stone and come to see you as well."

"Aren't you sweet?" Rory asked sarcastically, wiping her cheeks stubbornly. She smiled thankfully when Tristan handed her a Kleenex.

"Seriously, Mare, what's wrong?"

She sighed and flopped back on the couch, closing her eyes. "It's stupid," she dismissed.

"Tell me."

"I saw Dean and Lindsay today." Tristan opened his mouth to say something but Rory continued before he could. "Lindsay's pregnant."

He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Bag boy's procreating?"

Rory laughed softly, her eyes still closed and her head still leaning back against the couch. "She doesn't know," she said quietly.

"What doesn't she know?" He tucked a stray hair behind her ear fondly.

"She doesn't know what happened between Dean and me. She doesn't know that their vows have been broken, he never told her."

Tristan sighed, slinging an arm on the back of the couch. "It's not your fault, Rory."

She shook her head in disagreement. "It takes two. I don't understand how he can just bounce back from everything that happened, how everything can just go back to normal. I mean, what happened between Dean and I changed my life. I wouldn't be so close to you and your family if this hadn't happened, everything would be different."

"Do you regret it?" Tristan asked carefully.

She shook her head again, opening her eyes slightly. "I don't regret becoming friends with you. I regret losing it to him maybe, for thinking that I was in love with him. I regret thinking that he was really going to leave his wife for me. I regret being so naïve." She sighed, moving to lean her head against Tristan's.

"It'll be okay, Mary," he soothed, running a hand down her hair.

"I know." She sighed again. "I just want to put it all behind me."

There was a comfortable silence between the two friends as they contemplated that summer and the event that had to have happened in order for it to be. Tristan's eyes narrowed as he heard a shuffling sound from the other room. Standing up slowly, he gestured to Rory to stay quiet as he stalked towards the door and in one smooth motion; he jerked it open, causing four people to tumble to the floor ungracefully.

"Hi?" one of them offered, awkwardly, staring into Tristan's angry face.

Rory stood up from the couch slowly; her eyes still closed as she wished that she didn't recognize the voice that had just spoke. She turned around, opening her eyes and sighed when she realized that this really wasn't her night.

"Steph, Logan, Finn, Colin?"

"Hey Rory," Steph said, smiling apologetically. The boys avoided her gaze, still sitting on the floor.

"Oh my God," Rory said slowly, backing up slightly. "Oh my God."

"Mary…" Tristan started, taking a step towards her.

"I have to go."

Logan opened his mouth to offer an apology, to beg for forgiveness. He hadn't meant to listen in to her conversation, it had just happened. But there was nothing he could say to convince her of that.

She was already gone.


	8. Control

_Reviews: Wow, just wow. You guys are awesome!_

_I am so unbelievably sorry that this chapter took so long. Unfortunately, my updates are going to be more spread out now that it's summer. I still have two exams left (I hate provincials!) and I'm volunteering for the three weeks after that. Hopefully I will find some time in there to write!_

_I hope that you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

The figure huddled on the couch, half-lying, half-sitting as they stared at the TV, not really seeing anything. When the door creaked open, they didn't move, didn't change position, giving no notice that they even noticed that someone had entered.

"Mary?" Tristan walked further into the room before spotting the cocoon of blankets on the couch. In seconds, he was sitting on the ground in front of Rory who was on the couch.

She didn't say anything and avoided his questioning glance. He ran a hand down her cheek, pushing strands of hair away from her face.

"C'mon Mare, its okay," he said, his voice low and soothing.

She shook her head stubbornly. "No, it's not. I have never been so embarrassed." Tears started to trickle down her face and she swatted at them, annoyed with herself.

He brushed away the wetness with his thumbs and held her face in his hands. "You don't have to be embarrassed. They're idiots, Ror. They don't deserve your tears."

She grabbed a Kleenex from the box beside her and wiped under her eyes, laughing bitterly. "I liked him. I actually liked him."

"Logan?"

"I was so excited because I thought that I actually meant something to him, that he would actually consider being with me," she continued without seeming to hear Tristan's words.

"Maybe he does like you. He made a mistake, Rory. That doesn't mean that he doesn't want to be with you." Tristan sat back on his heels, still running his hand through Rory's hair.

She shook her head stubbornly. "If he liked me he wouldn't have eavesdropped on my conversation with you."

"He wasn't the only one who listened in."

"That makes it worse!" She sat up, letting the blankets pool around her. "I was just a joke. They're probably all laughing about it somewhere."

"He seemed pretty upset by it after you left."

"Did you talk to them?" She turned to look Tristan in the eye and he felt his heart break at the tear tracks down her cheeks.

"No, I didn't. I left right after you did."

"Then how do you know? Maybe he was only pretending to feel bad about it."

"I don't know, Ror." Seeing that she wasn't in the right frame of mind to listen to reason, Tristan moved up so he was sitting on the couch beside her and opened his arms. "Come here."

She moved into his arms, pressing her nose against his chest as he ran a comforting hand down her back. It was a short time later that the sound of her pain dwindled and then died, as she drifted off to sleep.

-

She felt his presence the moment he stepped into her vicinity but she refused to turn around and look at him. Her gaze was almost ripped away from the murky depths of the cup filling with coffee in front of her when his knee brushed hers as he sat down but at the last minute she resisted the urge. In her peripheral vision, she could see him lean forward on his elbows, looking in her direction and prepared to talk. She ignored him.

"Rory…" he started before she turned determinedly away. He sighed, running an agitated hand through his already messy hair. "Just listen to me."

She turned in his direction and raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's fair considering you spent a lot of time listening to me last night," she replied bitterly. She took a sip of her coffee before wincing at its horrible taste and she tossed into a nearby trashcan.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Rory got the impression that he wasn't used to saying that as his nose scrunched up and his voice got quieter as he said it. She also got the impression that he thought that saying those words could make everything go away and be forgotten. His naïve beliefs almost amused her as she had learned long ago that sorry doesn't make anything go away.

"You invaded my privacy, Logan! You had no right!" She poked his chest with her finger before curling her hand into a fist and looking away from him again. Suddenly she wished that she hadn't thrown out her coffee, it had been a good prop to use while ignoring him.

"I know I had no right. None of us did, Rory. We weren't thinking; we never seem to be thinking." He laughed almost bitterly. "We have done so many stupid things, said so many stupid things. Eavesdropping on someone's conversation is at the very bottom of our list of sins."

"But that doesn't make it any better," Rory whispered, standing up from the table at which she had been sitting and making her way towards the door.

"How can I make it better?" Logan was out of his chair and blocking her way before Rory could even process the question.

"What?"

"You, me, us. How can I make it better?" He ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly and stared into his eyes.

Rory sighed, hoisting her book bag slightly while she thought. "There is no us, Logan," she said quietly, ignoring how much she wanted it.

Logan shook his head and grinned ruefully, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She wasn't sure when he had gotten into the proximity to do so and she fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Then how can I make it so that there is an us?" Logan asked quietly.

"Logan…"

"Rory…" he countered, grinning slightly. "How do you feel about dinner tonight?"

"What about it?" Rory shifted her weight and chance a glance at her watch, hoping that he would get the hint.

"Finn, Colin, Steph and I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight to apologize for last night." He didn't mention that it was all his and Steph's idea and that Colin and Finn had been hard pressed to even remember Rory, never mind feel remorse for listening on her conversation. "C'mon Ace…"

Rory's eyes narrowed. "Ace?"

He grinned. "You're a reporter, figure it out. Now, what do you say about dinner tonight?"

She thought for a moment before sighing. She and Steph had been on their way on becoming close friends and she didn't want to lose that over a misunderstanding, no matter how much it had hurt her. "My friend is staying with me this weekend," she finally said on a sigh.

"I'll change the reservation." Logan grinned, too eager that she was agreeing to bother asking for details about her friend. "I'll pick you guys up at seven."

Rory nodded but didn't say anything as she walked away. Already she was regretting her choice, not wanting to put herself through a night of awkward silences and unwanted apologies. She sighed as she walked towards her dorm, knowing that it was going to be a long night.

But she might as well be optimistic, at least this way Tristan would meet Logan meaning that he hadn't traveled all the way for nothing. Rory sighed again.

Suddenly dinner looked all that much worse.

-

Finn leaned back against the pillows, letting his head fall back as he watched his girlfriend get dressed, throwing him a dirty look as she did so. He didn't let it faze him and he grinned lazily in response. Stretching out his sore muscles, he let his eyes close and debated giving into the sleepiness that was beginning to overwhelm him.

"Up!" His head snapped to attention and his eyes shot open as something landed on his stomach. He looked up to see his smirking girlfriend and noticed a pillow lying innocently beside him. His eyes narrowed.

Deciding that it would take to much energy to throw the pillow back, he crossed both arms across his chest and leaned back on the bed. "I'm tired," he complained as she made a noise of protest.

"Too bad! We're going to this dinner for Rory whether you like it or not." Steph put her hands on her hips and gave him her best glare, ignoring the fact that his eyes were closed and therefore he couldn't see her.

Finn sat up slightly on his elbows. "I don't even know this Rory person."

His girlfriend rolled her eyes. "The girl that I met at the Dugrey's party? The one that you spent an afternoon with while we were broken up trying to come up with a plan to get me back?" At Finn's dubious look, she sighed. "Logan likes her."

Finn snorted and fell back, closing his eyes. "Logan likes every pretty girl on campus, love. That doesn't exactly narrow it down."

"Finn," Steph warned, picking up her shoes and sitting on the end of the bed to put them on. "Just come tonight okay? I feel really bad about the whole eavesdropping on her thing and I don't want her to hate me."

He sighed, getting up and crawling to the end of the bed where his girlfriend was sitting. Moving so he was behind her with his legs on either side, he slipped his arms around her waist. "She couldn't hate you if she tried." He pressed his lips to the side of her neck. "Where are we meeting them for dinner tonight?"

Steph concentrated on doing up her shoe, trying to hide the smile that had appeared when Finn had agreed to come to dinner that night. "Logan's meeting us here and then we're going to go pick up Rory and her friend."

His eyebrows rose. "She's bringing a friend? What, is this a triple date? You and me, Logan and Rory, and Colin and Rory's friend?"

She looked unsure for a minute as she leaned back against Finn. "I don't think so. Rory had someone staying with her and she didn't want to just ditch her, so she's coming with us."

Finn reluctantly let go of Steph, as she got up and tossed him his shoes. "At least tell me that Logan checked to make sure that she was hot?"

"Finn!"

"C'mon love, do you really think that Colin will appreciate being set up if his date is hideous?"

-

Tristan flipped through the channels, not paying attention to any of the shows that flashed by on the screen. The volume was low enough that he could still hear Rory in her room, rummaging through her closet and slamming dresser drawers. She had been stressing about what to wear ever since Logan had invited them to dinner and had dragged Tristan back to the dorm to get ready almost an hour previous.

"You done yet, Ror?" he called as he flipped passed a talk show and settled on the music channel. He leaned his head against the back of the couch as the sound of the new teen idol filled the room.

"Almost!" she called back, her voice slightly muffled. "I can't find my black sweater."

Tristan looked around the room, knowing from experience that she had probably just left it lying around somewhere. Sure enough it was lying over the back of a chair.

"It's out here." He looked at his watch and ran a hand through his hair. "What time are we leaving?"

"Logan's picking us up at seven." Rory walked out of her room, barefoot with a rolled up pair of socks in her hands. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she pulled them on before surveying the room. "Do you know where my black boots are?"

He shrugged. "Probably in your room somewhere." He yawned, stretching his arms up over his head. "You should go find them, he'll be here soon."

Rory nodded and headed back into her room as Tristan picked up the remote and turned off the television, causing a sudden silence to engulf the dorm. For a moment, it felt as though it was quiet enough to hear one's thoughts. Of course that only lasted a minute or so.

"I can't find them, Tris!"

Tristan tried not to wince at the nickname, knowing that Rory hated being called Mary almost as much as he hated being called Tris. "Wear different shoes then!" he called back, getting up to find his own shoes.

Looking at his watch, he noticed that this Logan guy was already late as he was supposed to have picked them up five minutes ago. Already there was one strike against him. Not that Tristan was determined to dislike this guy; he was sure that Logan was a good person or Rory wouldn't be friends with him.

Tristan sighed, knowing that nobody could ever be good enough for Rory, that no one could even come close. Even before meeting Logan, he knew that he wasn't right for his friend. Rory deserved the world and, while this guy may be rich enough to buy it for her, he would still never be everything that she needed. Deciding to reserve judgment until he had met the guy, he pulled his left shoe on and was in the middle of tying it when there was a knock on the door, causing him to look up.

"Tristan! Can you get that?" Rory called from the next room, a tremor in her voice giving away her nerves.

"Yeah, I've got it," he called back, already heading towards the door with only one shoe on, mussing up his hair out of habit along the way.

He pulled open the door and inwardly smirked at the surprised look on Logan Huntzberger's face. He was going to enjoy tonight.

"Hey, you must be Logan." He allowed himself one smug smile as he held out his hand in greeting. "I'm Tristan, Rory's friend. It's nice to meet you." Tristan could tell immediately that his sentiments weren't returned but the other man's upbringing required him to shake hands.

"It's nice to meet you too," Logan replied, looking at Tristan warily, determined not to show the shock that he was feeling. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Almost," Tristan replied, almost too cheerily. "I just have to finish putting on my shoes." He gestured towards his unshod foot before raising his voice. "And someone's been taking forever getting ready."

He could practically hear Rory roll her eyes. "I'll be out in a minute."

Tristan grinned at Logan as if sharing in a private joke. "Women," he said, shaking his head as though he were exasperated.

Logan sighed dramatically, going along with Tristan's joke despite the jealousy that was currently coursing through his veins. "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

Tristan smiled and flopped down on the couch, reaching down to pick up his shoe that had fallen under the furniture. He looked up at Logan who was still standing with his hands in his pockets. "Take a seat man. Rory will be a while longer."

"She said that she'll just be a minute," Logan pointed out, taking a seat adjacent to Tristan's.

He rolled his eyes in response. "She always says that. I spent more hours than I want to think about this summer waiting for her to finish getting ready."

"This summer?" Logan asked, his face portraying nothing but curiosity. After spending the majority of his life around people like Logan Huntzberger, Tristan knew better; he was jealous as hell.

Tristan shrugged. "Rory and I spent the summer together," he explained, being deliberately vague.

Logan opened his mouth to reply but, before he could, Rory walked out of her room, digging through the black purse in her hands. Tristan stood up and a second later Logan followed suit. Rory looked up and smiled.

"Hey Logan," she said, her smile widening. "Sorry that I'm late."

"No problem." Logan gestured towards Tristan. "I was getting to know your friend here."

Rory smiled, glad that Tristan and Logan were getting along. Despite her hesitancy to go to this dinner, she was beginning to think that it was a good idea. After talking to Logan that morning, she was almost positive that something was going to happen between them and soon. She was happy that she would get to know Tristan's opinion of Logan before she went out with him.

Tristan smiled as well, noticing what Rory had not. There was annoyance in Huntzberger's voice; annoyance that he was certain came from Logan's interpretation of his relationship with Rory. His smile widened; call him sadistic but after spending at least a year in high school mooning over Rory while her boyfriend took every opportunity to make it obvious that she wasn't available, he was eager to pass on the favor to someone else, even if it was a lie.

Oh yeah, he was definitely going to enjoy dinner tonight.

-

They sat around the circular table in the restaurant, an uncomfortable silence engulfing them. The car ride over had been awkward after Tristan's introduction. Steph had picked up on Logan's annoyance as he drove them to the restaurant and therefore decided to stay silent. Both Colin and Finn had followed suit leaving both Tristan and Rory to make conversation. Needless to say, any of their attempts were dead ends.

"So how did the two of you meet?" Steph asked after they had gotten their drinks, gesturing to Rory and Tristan.

"We met in high school," Tristan answered with a smirk. "It was love at first sight." He enjoyed the way that Logan's grip tightened on his glass, turning his knuckles white.

Rory rolled her eyes and gave a disbelieving laugh. "I hated him," she explained to the group. "I hadn't even been at Chilton for a morning yet and there he was, pushing me into a wall and propositioning me."

"I offered to give you my notes and asked if you needed any help studying!" Tristan replied defensively.

"You went to Chilton for all of high school?" Colin interrupted, disbelieving that someone could spend their high school career at one school.

She nodded. "Yeah I did. Tristan left part way through junior year?" She posed the last part of her explanation as a question, unsure of the year of Tristan's departure. He shrugged and took a large swallow of his drink in response.

"Where'd you go after that?" Steph asked, opening checking Tristan out, causing Finn to place a casual arm around her shoulders.

"Military school in North Carolina." He laughed bitterly. "Last time I ever thought that my parent's threats were empty."

Finn raised his beer in response, toasting Tristan. "I've made the same mistake, mate." He laughed. "And yet I keep on repeating it."

And just like that, the ice was broken.

-

Over an hour later, they were lingering around the table, empty plates surrounding them. If they were any other patrons, the serving staff would already be hinting at their departure but one look at the college student's fancy clothes had stopped them.

Tristan snuck a glance at his watch and grimaced at the time. When he had decided to spend the night at his parent's house, he had expected that he would leave Rory safe at her dorm instead of in the middle of New Haven with a group of people that might have been him once upon a time. He started to stand up, catching the attention of the entire group.

"Leaving us already Dugrey?" Finn asked raising an eyebrow.

He pulled on his jacket, pushing in his chair. "Yeah, I was actually supposed to have been somewhere half an hour ago." He leaned down and kissed Rory on the cheek quickly, inwardly smirking at the look on Logan's face. Despite deciding that Huntzberger was an okay guy, he still enjoyed riling him up a bit.

"I drove you here," Logan pointed out, leaning back in his seat with no intention to drive Tristan anywhere.

Tristan nodded. "I'll catch a cab. How much do I owe for dinner?"

Rory shook her head. "I can cover for you, Tristan. Come on, I'll walk you out." She pushed back her chair and followed him out of the restaurant, looking back to see Logan watching them leave with an unreadable expression on his face.

Logan watched them walk out and frowned, reaching for the glass in front of him. He could tell that while Tristan and Rory were just friends, there was a bond between them that could not be broken. His thoughts were at a stand still as he didn't quite know what to do.

"Do you think she forgives us?" Steph asked with a troubled expression on her face. Finn wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

Logan nodded. "I think that she forgave us after she accepted the invitation for dinner."

Steph grinned happily. "Good, she's an amazing person. I would hate it if she never talked to me again because of the other night."

Logan stared down into his drink as his friends discussed Rory's positive qualities. He honestly felt something for Rory and, while he wanted to pursue her, he still wasn't sure whether he was ready for that. He wasn't sure if he could handle the responsibility that would inevitably come with a committed relationship. He had always run from responsibility in the past.

But then again, he wanted her. He wanted to get to know her, he wanted to be able to laugh at stupid things that they had done in the past like Rory and Tristan had done all through dinner. Logan Huntzberger decided right then and there that his goal for the future would be to take charge of the situation and get Rory to agree to go out with him.

He didn't care how long it might take.

-

"So?" Rory asked, the second her and Tristan stepped out of the restaurant and into the cool air.

"So?" Tristan asked back, despite knowing exactly what she meant. At her annoyed glare, he caved. "He seems alright."

"Alright?" Rory repeated incredulously, raising an eyebrow. "You, Colin, Finn and Logan spent almost half of the dinner discussing whether brunettes, blondes or redheads were better. You wouldn't have wasted your time on someone who's just alright. What's the deal?"

Tristan shrugged, an innocent expression on his face as he pulled out his cell phone to call a cab. "Well you see, Logan like brunettes the most while I'm partial to blondes."

"Tristan," Rory chastised, although she was smiling. "Seriously, what did you think of him?"

He held up a finger to signal her to hold on a second as he made the call to the taxi company. A minute or so later he disconnected the call and placed his cell back in his pocket. At Rory's expectant gaze, he sighed.

"He's arrogant and, from what I understand, somewhat of a player." When he noticed that Rory was about to interrupt, he continued to talk faster. "But he seems like a good guy. I think that he'd be good for you."

Rory could help the smile that was spreading across her face. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Sure. He isn't my first choice for you but I think that you would be good together, kind of balancing each other out."

Her smile broadened as she leapt forward and caught him in a hug. She burrowed her nose in his chest for a moment before drawing back. "Thanks Tristan."

He laughed in response as she made her way towards the door to the restaurant. "For what? I didn't do anything."

She shrugged. "I'll see you later, Tristan."

"Bye Mary," he replied softly, watching as she walked back into the restaurant, the doors closing quietly behind him.

He leaned back against the building behind him, closing his eyes as he waited for his ride to get there. Despite his feelings for Rory being completely platonic, he was still slightly jealous. He wasn't jealous that Rory liked Logan, he was jealous that Logan had someone like Rory chasing after him. He sighed, straightening when the taxi pulled up to the curb in front of him.

He was happy for Rory, really he was.

-

They gathered outside of the restaurant, as they contemplated what to do next. Steph was up for dancing while both Colin and Finn wanted to retire to the campus pub. It seemed like none of them could manage to agree resulting in them standing outside in the cold for almost twenty minutes. Colin and Steph were arguing loudly when Rory interrupted them.

"I think I'm just going to go back to my dorm," she said softly, causing everyone to turn and look at her.

"You want to go home?" Steph asked in disbelief.

Rory nodded and half shrugged. "I have an early class tomorrow."

"I can drive you back," Logan offered, not looking Rory in the eye. Despite his intentions to win her over, he had been silent since leaving the restaurant.

She shook her head. "I don't want to put you out or anything."

He laughed. "Its fine, I don't really feel like going out tonight anyway." He ignored the disbelieving look on his friend's faces. "You guys can find a ride, right?"

Finn opened his mouth to argue when Steph elbowed him in the side. "Its fine, mate," he said instead, shooting a dirty look at his girlfriend beside him.

"We'll see you later," Steph said, giving Rory a quick hug. "I'm really sorry about the other night; you know that right, Ror?"

Rory nodded with a smile. "I know and its fine. You made a mistake, I understand."

Steph grinned back. "Get her home safe, okay Logan?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Who do you take me for? Finn?"

Rory and Logan turned towards the direction of where they had parked Logan's car. It wasn't very far away, only about ten minutes or so. Finn, Colin and Steph watched them go, a contemplative expression on all of their faces as they stood silently.

Finally Finn broke the silence that engulfed them. "So Colin, was Tristan your idea of an ideal date?"

-

The car ride home would have been spent in almost complete silence, if it weren't for the sound of the radio in the background. Rory leaned her head against the window, sneaking glances at the man beside her out of the corner of her eye. It was dark, making shadows dance across his face as he concentrated on the road. Minutes later, they arrived back at campus and got out of the car, still in silence.

"You don't have to walk me back to my dorm," Rory said quietly, looking at Logan for the first time since they left the restaurant.

Logan grinned at her. "I told Steph that I would get you home safe. You wouldn't want me to disobey her, would you?"

She pretended to gasp in horror. "Perish the thought! I will hear no more of such blasphemy!"

He laughed, slinging a casual arm around her shoulders as they neared her dorm. Trying not to look disappointed when she shrugged it off to look through her purse to find her key moments later was harder than it should have been. He stuck his hands in his pockets to stop himself from fidgeting. When at last Rory had found her key and unlocked her door, she turned to face Logan with a smile on her face.

"So I'd have to say that that was the best apology dinner that I have ever had."

He raised an eyebrow. "You've had a lot of apology dinners?" Obviously he would have to think of something more original next time.

She smiled. "No, this was my first and therefore the best by default."

"Well, as long as it was the best." He took a step forward, noticing that she had also gotten closer without him noticing.

"By a long shot." She took a step towards him, vaguely recognizing what she was doing.

"I'm glad," he whispered, not really knowing what he was saying even as he said it. He smirked, reaching out to put a hand on her hip. Before he would take a step closer, she was there with her arms looped around his neck. There was only a second for him to revel in the feeling when her lips were on his and all coherent thoughts flew out of his head.

So much for being in charge of the situation.


	9. Sacrifices

_I am so sorry that this chapter took longer to get out. It just wouldn't come out right and I'm still not happy about it. Oh well._

_Reviews: Two hundred! Wow, you guys are awesome!_

_Enjoy._

* * *

There was a pause in all sounds as Rory pulled away a minute later, her hands still wrapped around Logan's neck. It took both of them a moment to register the sounds of a typical night; footsteps above them, the pounding bass from a nearby dorm. Neither of them was eager to lose all physical contact with the other, causing Logan to tug Rory closer to him. He stopped a millimetre from her mouth, hesitating, before lowering his mouth to hers.

It wasn't until nearly five minutes later when both of them were half-lying, half-sitting on the couch still attached at the lips that Rory realized what she was doing and pulled away again. Logan made a small noise of protest, his eyes still closed.

It was silence as Rory tried to reclaim some standing on solid ground. "I wanted to thank you for dinner," she finally whispered, pushing a stray hair away from her face.

Logan smirked. "I thought that that was what you were just doing." He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers again, pushing her back into the couch.

She let herself drift off into the kiss for a while before pulling away for the third time that evening. "We need to stop," she said, sitting up.

Those were, apparently, the magic words and Logan pulled away, sitting beside Rory on the couch. He didn't apologize for any of the kisses and she found herself thankful for this. She wouldn't have known what to say if he apologized for doing something that she had been thinking about since the last time he had kissed her.

"Okay," Logan said quietly. He didn't immediately get up to leave and for that Rory was thankful. Either that or terrified. She had no idea what to say to him.

"Tristan likes you," she blurted out before feeling the stupidity of her statement wash over her.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's always nice to have a back up but you can tell Tristan that I prefer brunettes." Tugging on a loose piece of her hair, he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "Smooth, Huntzberger."

Leaning back into the couch, Logan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I like you, Rory," he said quietly. "I told you that this morning and my feelings haven't changed since then."

"Actually you never told me that you liked me. You said that you wanted there to be an 'us' but you never mentioned liking me." Rory grinned, feeling relief spreading through her.

Logan felt a grin spreading across his face at her flippant words and he leaned forward slightly. "I just told you that I like you." He paused a minute and laughed quietly. "God, I feel like I'm in high school again." There was another pause as he thought for a minute. "You never said that you like me back."

Rory grinned, still filled with the giddy feeling that spread through her. "I like you back." She rolled her eyes theatrically although her mock annoyance was ruined by the smile on her face.

Logan leaned forward more and pressed his lips to hers quickly before pulling back. "Go out with me," he stated rather than asked.

"Yes." She leaned forward and kissed him, moving her hand until it was entwined with his.

"Tomorrow?" he asked when he pulled back to catch his breath for a minute.

"Tomorrow," she confirmed, kissing him once more.

-

Tristan tossed his wallet and keys onto the hall table, careful not to leave a mark on the antique wood and tried to stifle a groan as he noticed extra pairs of shoes in the front hall, knowing that that meant that his parents had people over. Tossing his shoes into the hall closet a little more violently than necessary, he made his way towards the dining room where the voices were coming from. He ran a hand through his hair as he heard a feminine laugh from the next room. Of course this had to be a set-up.

"Tristan!" Cynthia Dugrey was up in a flash with her arms around her son and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "It's so good to see you! I didn't think that you were stopping by until later."

Tristan looked towards his father who had stood up and walked over more calmly to shake his son's hand and shrugged. "Yeah but I realized that I needed to get back to school tomorrow and so I decided to come by earlier. Is that a problem?"

"No, honey, of course it's not a problem." Cynthia turned, hands on her hips, towards her husband. "Eric, why don't you go grab Tristan some dessert and coffee?" She turned back to her son as another thought entered her mind. "Unless you haven't eaten yet? There are lots of leftovers from dinner."

Tristan shook his head and took a seat at the table, surveying the strangers at the table who were watching him with interest. "I came straight from dinner actually." He nodded towards the couple around his parent's age and the girl who looked to be about his age. "I'm Tristan," he introduced.

Cynthia shook her head, disappointed in herself. "Where are my manners? Theresa, Allan this is my son Tristan." Tristan nodded again at the older couple and turned a curious gaze to their daughter, noticing that her mother's smile widened when he did. This was definitely a set up. "And this is their beautiful daughter Michaela."

Tristan smiled in return as the girl smirked at him. "It's nice to meet you," he said, running a hand through his hair and taking a seat as his father walked out of the kitchen, dessert and coffee in hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, dear," Theresa replied, beaming at Tristan before turning towards his mother. "You've raised such a polite son."

Cynthia gave an uncomfortable laugh, knowing as well as Tristan did that she had a small role in his upbringing. "Tristan was always such a good kid," she finally said, leaving out that he had been shipped to military school after breaking into a safe. Theresa didn't have to know everything after all.

"So," Eric broke in, noticing how uncomfortable the silence had become, "how's Rory?"

Tristan smiled, taking a bite of the cheesecake in front of him. "She's pretty good. She's pretty busy with school and stuff so we don't talk as much as we used to."

"Who's Rory?" Michaela broke in, tossing her black hair over her shoulder and smiling politely. Tristan could tell that it was strained, that she wanted to be here about as much as he did.

"She's Tristan's friend." Cynthia looked towards Allan and Theresa and grinned conspiratorially. "I'm sure you've heard of her, she's Richard and Emily's granddaughter."

Allan raised an eyebrow as he put down his coffee mug. "The illusive Gilmore granddaughter?" he asked with a laugh. "I've heard a lot about her from Richard but I've never had the honour of meeting her."

"She's whip smart," Eric put in. "I always thought that the Gilmore's were exaggerating about that but she gives me a run for my money."

Tristan shifted uncomfortably. He knew that Rory would hate being gossiped about even if it was in praise

Theresa raised an eyebrow and took a sip of the coffee in front of her. "I hear the Huntzberger boy has designs on her," she confided, looking at Tristan eagerly to see if he knew anything about that.

Cynthia turned a surprised face towards her son. "Really? Has she mentioned anything to you Tristan?"

He quickly ate the remaining bites of his cheesecake, knowing that he should be making a quick escape before polite after-dinner conversation become the Spanish Inquisition. "Actually I had dinner with him, his friends and Rory before I came here." He could see his parents begin to look interested in what more he had to say about that but before they could, he continued talking, inwardly sighing about what he was about to do. "So Michaela, would you like to come for a walk in the gardens with me?"

At his parent's triumphant grins, he had to squelch a grimace. The things he did for his best friend.

-

"So, I'll pick you up tomorrow night?" Logan asked, leaning against the doorframe and grinning down at Rory, enjoying the slight flush on her cheeks from their previous activities.

"I'll be here," she confirmed and, feeling bold, leaned up to kiss him quickly on the mouth.

As she pulled back, he raised an eyebrow. "You know that I don't need anymore incentive to go out with you tomorrow."

Rory laughed, tossing her hair behind her shoulders and enjoying the weight on her hips from Logan's hand. "Bye Logan," she said, lacing their hands together despite her words.

He laughed. "Trying to get rid of me already?" he asked but dutifully took his hands off her hips and began to back out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow night." He pressed a kiss to her palm and, with one last smirk, walked out the door and down the hall.

Rory sighed as she closed the door behind him. She was definitely way over her head. Making a detour to the fridge, she picked out a bottle of water before making her way towards the couch. Curling her feet underneath her and shifting until she was comfortable, she picked up the phone and dialled the familiar numbers.

"Hello?"

Rory leaned back against the pillows, preparing for a long conversation. "I've got a date tomorrow night!"

"That's great, kid! Who with?" Rory could practically hear her mother lean back against the pillows on her side of the line and knew that she had probably interrupted her mom's TV watching time.

"I told you about Logan, right?"

Lorelai laughed. "Nope, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about him at all. Oh wait, there was that one time. Remember?" she said sarcastically. "There was one time today, that is!" The line was filled with Lorelai laughing at her own joke.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Lame," she decided of her mother's attempt at humour.

Lorelai gasped. "You're lame," she replied childishly before sobering. "You left pretty fast last night, I was worried."

"Last night?"

"From the party?" Lorelai reminded her daughter slowly.

"Right, the party." Rory made a face, not wanting to admit that she had been crying over Dean and Lindsay's news and poured her heart to Tristan while Logan had been eavesdropping. "Tristan showed up for a surprise visit so I hung out with him in the pool house. By the time we had finished talking, the party was over." Rory was surprised at how easily the lie slipped off of her tongue. Previous to this summer, lying to her mother was something that she had neither wanted nor tried to do.

"So how is he doing?"

Rory shrugged. "Pretty good I think, if you ignore his girl problems."

"He has girl problems? Ooh, tell me, tell me!"

There was a pause. "It's kind of complicated. So, tell me what's happening between you and Luke."

As Lorelai began talking excitedly, Rory had to hold in a sigh. The last thing she wanted to hear about was her mother's love life. But she was even more uncomfortable about discussing Tristan's love life with her mother and in order to divert her from that topic, she had to pick something that she would be eager to talk to.

The things she did for her best friend.

-

Tristan watched the black haired girl out of the corner of his eyes. She was beautiful, he would give her that, but she hadn't said a word since they walked out the patio doors with their parent's eager eyes watching their every move. Walking aimlessly around was boring, Tristan had to admit, but it was better than suffering through a discussion about Rory's love life.

"What's wrong?" Michaela asked softly, breaking the silence that had engulfed them. "You look like you're in deep thought."

Tristan shrugged. "Just thinking, I guess. Sorry if this is boring." He waved a hand to indicate the gardens and the house behind it. "I just wanted to get out of there."

Michaela laughed and Tristan decided that he liked the sound of it. "I don't blame you. I've been stuck in there for almost two hours listen to your parents drop hints about what a great guy you are. Which I'm sure you are," she quickly reassured him. "But I don't need people telling me who to date or who to spend my time with."

He winced at the mention of his parents before smiling softly. "Yeah, I know the feeling. My parents are constantly trying to match me up with their friend's children. It doesn't matter who I'm dating at the time."

She nodded in agreement as they passed a small fish pond complete with goldfish. "I've been dating this guy for three months, my parents have met him and yet they still drag me to this dinner to meet 'a promising young man.'" She laughed sarcastically.

"Are you saying that I'm not promising?" Tristan asked, acting as though he were offended.

Michaela rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you are. However my parent's idea of promising is completely different from my idea of promising."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, and what is your idea of promising?"

She laughed slightly as she gave him an appraising look. "Oh, don't be so offended. I'm sure that you're a fine guy in your own way. You're just… not my type."

Shrugging, he idly kicked a pebble down the pathway and then felt incredibly cliché for doing so. "It's not like I haven't been told that before. Don't worry Michaela," he flashed her a grin, "you won't hurt my feelings." There was a brief lull in the conversation. "So what is your type?"

"Seriously?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously."

A grin slowly spread across her face. "Okay, well my guy has to be slightly rebellious but not completely out of control rebellious."

"Does being sent to military school for breaking into a safe count as being rebellious?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you that one," she conceded. "He also has to be able to carry a conversation. An intelligent conversation," she added, looking at Tristan doubtfully.

He grinned. "I don't know about you but I'd count this as a conversation."

"I don't know if this is exactly intelligent but sure, I'll give you this one." She paused. "That's two for two Mr. Dugrey. Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"Don't act so surprised," he replied dryly.

She laughed. "Okay and he has to have a tattoo."

Tristan pouted. "And ruin my delicate skin?"

She smiled coyly. "Well I guess that's it then. You're no longer my type."

He shook his head. "Hold on." Pulling down the back of his shirt, he moved towards the light to show a black design on his right shoulder blade. Satisfied that that she had seen it, he let his shirt cover it again and grinned over his shoulder at her. "I guess I'm three for three now."

"What's it of?" she asked once they had begun walking again. "I couldn't quite make it out."

He shrugged at her a tad sheepishly. "I'm not sure exactly. After I graduated from military school I got unbelievably drunk and woke up with it. It killed too," he added, pouting.

"Poor baby," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, there's one last thing that my type has."

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Okay, prepare to meet your perfect man." He rubbed his two hands together as in anticipation.

"He has to have dark hair."

He groaned dramatically. "Aw c'mon, at least give me a shot here!"

She shook her head and laughed. "Nope, sorry. My perfect man is required to have dark hair and that is one thing that you're lacking, Blondie."

"Shot down again." He pouted.

"You know what this means?" she asked, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

He shook his head, still pouting childishly.

"We should be friends."

Looking up and wiping the pout off of his face, he smiled and held out his hand. "Friends," he confirmed, shaking her hand with a smirk. There was a brief pause in the conversation before, "But if I ever dye my hair darker you so have to admit that I'm your perfect man."

She just laughed in response.

-

Steph crept into her boyfriend's dorm using the key that she had commandeered before they had become serious to unlock the door. It was much too early for Finn, that she knew, but had thought that she would be traditional and maybe make him something to eat or at the very least, supply some aspirin for his hangover. She still wasn't quite sure how the two of them had ended up in separate dorms the previous night and she sighed, wondering if he was bored of being exclusive already.

These thoughts were chased from her mind when she noticed that Finn was not only up and moving but also talking coherently on the phone to someone. This was not the Finn that she knew and loved.

Trying to smile at her, although it came out as more of a grimace, Finn held up one finger to signal that he would be done in a minute. Steph nodded to show that she understood before making her way towards the coffee maker. Something told her that her boyfriend would need a lot of coffee to keep functioning throughout the day.

Turning when she heard the conversation end, she was surprised to see him slumped over on the couch, looking pitiful. Crossing the room half way through the process of making coffee, she sat down beside him and ran a hand through his hair.

"What's wrong?" she asked softly, running a hand down his back and wishing that she could see his face. He had turned away from her when he had heard her footsteps.

"Nothing." His voice was irritated and his annoyed demeanour was obvious.

"Obviously it's not 'nothing'," Steph persisted, used to having to deal with irritable boys. She didn't have two younger brothers without knowing something about dealing with them in their bad moods.

"Just leave me the fuck alone," he snapped, turning towards her and she recoiled as if burnt. As she abruptly got up and walked away, feelings of remorse filled him. "I'm sorry, love, I just…"

"You just what, Finn? I can't deal with your bullshit, not right now, not today."

With the slam of a door she was gone, leaving Finn to curse after her until he almost couldn't remember what had gotten him so pissed off in the first place.

Almost.

-

The ringing of a phone disrupted Logan from his uneasy slumber. Wearily, he opened one eye, groaned, and rolled over, pulling the pillow along with him to cover his face. He knew that nobody who would call so early in the morning would be someone that he wanted to talk to. After dragging himself out of bed and making his way towards the phone, casting a desperate look at the coffee machine, he realized that he was right in his theory as the number displayed on the caller ID was his mother's.

Groaning, he turned away from the phone and flopped back down on the bed. A minute later, he was asleep.

When he awoke almost two hours later, he didn't remember his previous awakening nor did he notice that the red light on his answering machine was blinking. Not that it really mattered anyway as his mother was never one for leaving messages on machines, not trusting them to be received. Logan never mentioned that he never received her messages from his machine because they were deleted before they could be listened to. Call it juvenile but he was never one for maturity.

The phone rang again when Logan was in the middle of drinking his first cup of coffee of the morning. Making an aggravated noise, he slammed down the coffee mug on the counter hard enough that he checked to make sure it hadn't chipped before crossing the room to the still ringing phone. Taking a glance at the caller ID, he was even more annoyed to see that it was his mother's private line.

He had never understood when he was younger why his parents had three phone lines. His father had his home business line which was, of course, completely different from his office business line as it was used for emergencies only. Logan was under the impression that it was merely his excuse to leave awkward family gatherings. His mother had her own phone line, primarily used to sort out dates for charity balls and DAR meetings. Why this had to be done on a separate line than the main house one was never completely answered. Then there was the main house line which was seldom answered. Instead, there was always a maid standing by, prepared to take down a message that would be returned as soon as possible.

And people wondered why Logan purchased his own cell phone at the age of eleven.

"Hello?" he said into the phone, already on the move back to his coffee cup.

"Logan, how are you?"

He rolled his eyes, leaned against the counter and took a sip of coffee. He hated nothing more than making polite conversation on the phone with his mother. Unless, of course, he was making polite conversation in person with his mother. "I'm doing well thanks, and yourself?"

"I'm doing wonderfully, thanks." There was a pause as Logan's mother waited for him to say something and Logan resisted the urge to bang his head against the counter repeatedly. "I actually have a favour to ask you."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother?"

"We're having a gathering of our closest friends tonight and you need to be here." There was no question in her tone, merely fact.

"I can't tonight," Logan said but he already knew that it was no good. He had never gotten away with saying no to Shira Huntzberger before, there was no reason that it should be different now.

"Cancel whatever you're busy with. You need to be here."

"Its last minute," Logan shot back. "You can't expect me not to busy if you invite me less than twelve hours before hand."

Shira's tone grew colder. "So suddenly your family doesn't matter, is that how it goes?" She continued on without waiting for an answer. "You will cancel your plans tonight and you will show up here at seven."

Logan opened his mouth to argue but realized that he would be speaking to empty air as his mother had already hung up on him. Slamming done the phone as hard as he could did nothing to calm him down despite it being intended to release some of his anger. Falling onto his couch, he put his head in his hands and sighed.

So much for his first date with Rory.

-

Rory couldn't sleep. No matter how many times she shifted her position or how many sheep she counted, sleep kept eluding her. When she awoke earlier than usual, she took one look at the clock and groaned. As she headed towards the coffee pot where Paris had already made coffee before she had left, she almost wished that she had classes that day. Of course it had to be a long weekend, leaving her with the whole day to fret over her date with Logan.

Nothing seemed to be working for her. Her closet stuffed with clothes suddenly didn't seem good enough and no shoes seemed to show off her legs to the extent that she wanted. She wanted him to take one look at her and be speechless; she wanted him to shower her with compliments as he walked her to his car.

She wanted to be beautiful to him, even if it was only for one night.

-

Steph knew that she looked pathetic, that she definitely had better days but at the moment she didn't care. She hated him, she loathed him. She hated that with just one word he could ruin her day. She hated that he had so much power over her, that she was so dependent on him. She wanted that to change. She wanted him to depend on her; she wanted him to be the weaker one in the relationship.

With new determination, Steph got up from the couch and grabbed her purse on her way to the door. She wasn't going to sit at home and cry over Finn anymore. Things were about to change.

And nothing was going to stand in her way.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, I wanted your opinion on something:_

_Do you like the Tristan/OC and Steph/Finn scenes or would you preferit ifI mostly concentratedon the Rogan part of the story? _


	10. Insecurities

_A/N: Okay so it's been like 2 months... yikes. And to think that my goal at the beginning was to update once a week. Anyway, now that summer's over my updates should increase, although between school, soccer and work I wouldn't hold my breath. This isn't the greatest chapter, I'll admit, although this was the first chapter that was pictured in my mind. One of the scenes (I won't give away which one) is pretty much my first picture of the story. Everything else kind of developed around it. It didn't really come across on paper like I had hoped it would but oh well._

_Reviews were awesome and I love you all for them._

_Enjoy._

* * *

It was quarter to seven and Logan still wasn't ready to pick up Rory for the evening.

After the phone call with his mother, he hadn't been able to concentrate. Books were tossed to the side after barely being cracked open; movies were played without him noticing, forgotten in the background as he paced in front of the TV. His vast music collection suddenly seemed too small; there was no music in the world that could identify with what he was feeling at the moment.

He wanted his and Rory's first date to be absolutely perfect but, as everything in his life eventually was, it was ruined by his mother. The phone was off the hook as the beep kept reminding him but at the moment he didn't care, didn't think that anyone would phone him that he wanted to talk to. He hated this. He hated that their first date was going to take place at his parent's house for a party that he didn't even want to attend. He hated that that was going to go down in the history of their relationship.

_So, Rory, you're dating the Huntzberger heir? I bet he took you someplace great for your first date._

_We went to his parent's house and spent an awkward evening conversing with people that I've never met before._

Damn it all to hell.

He was going insane, he knew it. Logan Huntzberger was known for being calm, cool and collected. He was known for going with the flow, for being easy. He was not known for freaking out over a minor change in plans or worrying about the future of a relationship based on this change of plans. Compared to some of the other places that he had taken past dates, a party at his parents was nothing.

That's it, it's nothing. They'd forget about it, go someplace else another time and consider that their first date.

Filled with new determination, Logan pulled on his jacket, flicking invisible lint off of his pants, and made his way out of the dorm to pick up Rory.

In Omnia Paratus.

He knocked on her door at five past seven and knew from the sounds that emerged from within that she wasn't quite ready yet. Not that that came as a surprise; in Logan's experience, girls were never ready when they said that they would be. He was sure that it was all part of a conspiracy to keep the men on their toes.

"Hey," a pink-cheeked Rory said, as she flung open the door and flashed Logan a quick smile. She only had one shoe on, the other was dangling from her pinkie and suddenly he couldn't breath.

"This isn't a date," he blurted out before his brain could compute what he wanted to say into something more tactful.

As her smile turned into a frown and any trace of happiness disappeared from her face, Logan could've hit himself. It took a lot for him to resist the urge to do so. There was an awkward silence and he could tell that he had just ruined this night. And to think that he was thought to be suave by many people throughout his life. He sure wasn't tonight. Any thoughts of this being a successful night were immediately thrown out the window and surprisingly his mother had nothing to do with it.

This time it was all on him.

-

Finn was beyond worried.

He had spent almost the entire day searching all over campus for his girlfriend and had yet to find her. Even recruiting the few girls who had succumbed to his charm to search the washrooms for him hadn't returned with positive results. Steph was no where to be found and he knew that it was his fault.

Well at least he thought it was. He wasn't so self-centered to automatically believe that the only reason he couldn't find Steph was because she was avoiding him. There were a million other possibilities of where she might be.

Sighing, he dug out the key from his pocket and unlocked her dorm door. He had borrowed her key a couple months ago and made a copy of it, knowing that she hadn't given a spare to anyone and that her roommate wasn't really around. It was important that somebody had a spare in case of an emergency; it wasn't his fault that he was the only one to do something about it.

He sat on her bed, leaning back against the wall unperturbed by the fact that he was in someone else's dorm room when they weren't there. Things like that didn't bother him. He was fine being by himself, fine with making conversation with complete strangers. His family had always thought of him as somewhat of a loner. Finn frowned, not wanting to think about his family. His family had been the cause behind everything. If his mom hadn't called that morning to tell him her news, he wouldn't have been in such a bad mood and Steph wouldn't have run off like that.

Or maybe she would have. They had needed a fight sometime, needed some conflict in their relationship. Besides, what didn't break them up would only make them stronger.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of a key entering the lock, causing him to sit up quickly. Ignoring the head rush that he felt, he got to his feet with his hands in his pockets, ready to beg for Steph's forgiveness. Only, once the door had swung open and he had gotten ready to talk, no words would come out as he took in the sight in front of him.

There was his girlfriend with her arms wrapped around another man.

-

The car ride was silent as Rory wasn't up to making conversation. She felt like the biggest idiot in the world. Her day had been spent trying to make herself look perfect, to look desirable in Logan Huntzberger's eyes. All of that was shot down by four words.

_This isn't a date._

What was it then? Rory sighed, leaning back against the cool leather seat and knew that Logan's eyes were on her. She didn't say anything though and he didn't either. After half a dozen failed conversation attempts, he had finally gotten the message and had refrained from talking. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she turned her head, feigning looking at the scenery, knowing that he was still watching her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe she was just being overdramatic. God knows that she had had bad dates before and she had gotten past them. But then again, this wasn't a date.

But it felt like one. He had picked her up, hadn't he? That was something guys did on dates. It was just the two of them; for once they weren't in a group setting. Dates were usually just two people, weren't they? So, why wasn't this a date? She didn't understand and opened her mouth to question him but after a moment of indecisiveness, closed it again. Logan's past reputation came to mind and she realized that she was just one of the many. She wasn't special so why should she assume that their relationship was? God, she couldn't even get a date out of the man who was known to have multiple dates in one night.

A tear slipped out of her eye and down her cheek before she raised a hand to casually wipe it away. Showing weakness wasn't on her list of things to do this evening and so she was determined to not let Logan know that she was upset. Her pride wouldn't allow her.

"You look nice," Logan commented quietly, his eyes on the road. He knew that if he turned to look towards her, he wouldn't be able to look away again.

"Thanks," Rory murmured back after the silence had stretched for almost too long. Conversation wasn't a priority for her right then as she knew that he would detect the waver in her voice if she continued to speak.

He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't get anything more than one-word answers out of her. "Look, Rory, I'm sorry about earlier. I'm an idiot but you have to understand-"

"There's nothing to apologize for," she said, interrupting him. "It's fine, really. We're friends, right? And we're just friends hanging out. Nothing more, nothing less."

Logan looked at her for a second before turning his eyes back to the road and mumbling, "Right, friends."

"So," Rory said, trying to act more cheerful even though she still felt awful, positive that this was going to be one of the worst nights of her life. "Where are we going?"

"My parents are having a thing tonight. I told them that I would go." He didn't mention that he had tried to get his mom to change her mind about him going, that he hadn't wanted their night to end up awkward and stiff.

She nodded. "That sounds like fun," she replied, even though it was the last thing that she felt like doing. Her smile felt as false as her words.

Logan pulled the car up a long driveway, past the many cars that lined either side. They pulled around a curve, revealing an enormous house, lights blazing. Rory could feel her mouth drop open. While both her grandparents and the Dugreys had large homes, they were still more modest than this one. This house made her feel like she was two inches tall.

"Home sweet home," her blond haired companion remarked sarcastically, turning off the car and reaching into the back for something.

Rory raised an eyebrow. "Your electricity bills must be outrageous."

He laughed, although somewhat bitterly. "You ready for this?" he asked, already starting to open his door.

"Yeah," she said quietly, still looking up at the house with wide eyes, "I'm ready."

-

Finn stared at Stephanie and her brunet companion in shock, no words coming to mind. The urge to slam the door and forget that this had ever happened was strong but he resisted, knowing that he was in Steph's dorm room and so he would have to face her eventually. Here's to hoping it was later rather than sooner.

"Steph?" he asked, his voice coming out somewhat strangled. "Who is this?" He gestured towards the man with his arms around his girlfriend's waist, his lips having just retreated from her plump lips.

"Finn…" Steph said in shock removing her hands from the back of the guy's neck. "What are you doing here?"

He suddenly felt awkward, not knowing what to do with his hands. Shoving them into his pocket, he looked up at her with accusing eyes. "I was waiting for you. I wanted to apologize for being rude this morning. So, I'm sorry. Have a nice life," he finished stiffly, pushing past them and making his way down the hall.

"Finn!" Steph called after him but he kept walking, acting like he hadn't heard her.

He was in shock. If he had had time to process what he had just witnessed, he would be yelling. Instead, he was walking away. That's what he was known for anyway; walking away from his problems. Everybody knew that so why was she still following him, calling his name? A blonde made a noise of aggravation as Finn pushed past her, making her drop her book but he ignored it. He didn't give a damn about anyone but himself in that moment.

"Finn!" Steph said again, finally catching up to him. She put a hand on his arm and he whirled around snarling.

"What?" he asked, running an agitated hand through his hair. "What the fuck do you want?"

Her arm retreated, a hurt expression on her face and Finn knew that he had never hated anyone in his life as much as he hated her in that moment. How dare she make him feel guilty after she was out doing God knows what with some guy while he was panicking over whether she was okay or not.

"I wanted to explain," she said quietly, her voice no more than a whisper. Finn could see the tears building up and he hated himself for wanting to be there to brush them away when they fell.

"There's nothing to explain. If you want your shit you can come to my dorm to pick it up." He started to back away, putting some distance between him and her hurt expression. "You can do whatever you want with the stuff that I've left at your place; I don't care." He took a deep breath. "We can be friends eventually, I'm sure, although I suppose that I just stole your line. Isn't the girl supposed to make the 'it's not you, it's me but we can still be friends' speech?" He tried to smile to bring some humour into the situation. He was rambling, but he didn't care anymore. He knew that the minute he walked away from her things would never be the same.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and Finn felt as though he had been shot. All along he had thought that he had misinterpreted the situation, that someone like Stephanie wouldn't possibly do something like that. Obviously he had thought too much of his now ex-girlfriend.

"Me too," he said back just as quietly.

He walked away before the tears came.

-

Rory looked around the elaborate room. It was something else that was for sure. Sighing, she leaned against the wall and looked for her non-date. He had disappeared only about five minutes ago to get them something to drink but it seemed like forever ago, especially since she was standing near a wall fiddling with her hands. She didn't know anyone here and wasn't all that eager to jump into conversation with a stranger.

"Here."

She felt something cool being pressed into her hand and smiled at Logan gratefully as she took a sip of her newly acquired champagne. "Thanks."

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked half sarcastically as he leaned against the wall beside her, bringing his own champagne to his lips.

She gave a half smile. "Time of my life," she said sarcastically even though she knew that it was impolite to do so. But so was asking if she was having a good time even though he had already ruined this night for her. He had no right to ask her such things.

"Logan!"

Both Rory and Logan looked up to see a tastefully dressed blonde woman walking towards them, a fake smile stretched across her face. Her eyes narrowed, Rory looked between the two of them, quickly finding the family resemblance that was scarce but there.

"Oh God," Logan murmured before turning towards his brunette companion. "I apologize in advance for anything remotely insulting that she says to you." He didn't bother to smile as the woman drew closer. "Hello mother."

"Logan." His mother nodded her head towards him and leaned forward to give him a chaste kiss on the check. "And who's this?" She turned her beady eyes towards Rory.

"This is my friend Rory Gilmore," he said, squeezing Rory's arm lightly as he turned towards her. "Rory this is my mother, Shira Huntzberger."

Rory smiled, trying to ignore that it felt false. Logan introducing her as 'his friend' felt like a slap in the face. But then again, this wasn't a date. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Huntzberger. You have a beautiful home."

Shira's eyes narrowed as she surveyed the girl in front of her. "Are you related to Richard and Emily Gilmore, dear?"

Rory nodded. "They're my grandparents."

Before Shira could reply to that, two more people approached the group.

"Shira, wonderful party," Cynthia Dugrey said with a wide smile. She leaned forward to gently embrace the Huntzberger woman. "And Rory, sweetheart, it's great to see you again."

Rory laughed. "I just saw you last week."

Eric smiled kindly. "That's still too long." He turned to face Logan, an unreadable expression on his face. "And you must be Logan?"

"Logan Huntzberger," Logan replied with a smile holding out his hand for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you and your wife sir."

"Right, sorry." Rory smiled sheepishly. "Logan these are Tristan's parents, Cynthia and Eric Dugrey."

Cynthia's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked over the blond in front of her. Tristan had never had anything bad to say about the boy but she was still slightly unsure about whether he would ever be good enough for Rory Gilmore. She had grown quite close to the girl over the previous summer and expected nothing but the best for her.

"I'm sorry," Shira said, interrupting Cynthia's thoughts. "But I wasn't aware that you were acquainted with Ms Gilmore."

Cynthia smiled widely. "Rory and my son are old friends." She directed a warm smile towards Rory. "Eric and I are most fond of her."

While Rory blushed from the praise, Shira's eyes narrowed as she took everything in. Everyone who was anyone in Hartford knew that Rory Gilmore was the illegitimate love child of Lorelai Gilmore and Christopher Hayden. She didn't want that kind of girl hanging around her only son and would have let the girl know that; she could stand being ostracized by the Gilmores and according to rumours, the Haydens couldn't care less. However, being on the bad side of the Dugreys as well was not something on her list of things-to-do. It wasn't like any of the families were very powerful in their own rite but combined they were a power that Shira Huntzberger was unwilling to cross.

And so Shira plastered a smile on her face and sent an affectionate smile towards the young brunette, noticing how her son seemed to lean into her. Instead of snubbing the girl, she placed an affectionate hand on her shoulder. Instead of telling her son that he should consider some other girl, she gushed about what a cute couple they were.

It's funny how things turn out like that.

-

"C'mon."

Suddenly Logan was there at her side, saving her from making even more one-sided conversation with people she would rather not share air space with and he was tugging at her elbow until they were out of the room. She half-smiled at him, happy that he had stopped the awkward conversation but still half mad at him for his words earlier. It seemed every time she thought that she and Logan were on even ground, he would do something and the world would shift once again.

"Where are we going?" she asked, breathless as he continued tugging her, out of the room, down the hall and finally out of the house. "It's dark out here."

He smirked at her over his shoulder. "What, are you afraid?"

"No but I'm cold and frankly, I'm still mad at you."

He stopped suddenly, causing her to stumble a little before she caught herself. Her dignity required her to refuse the steadying arm he put out for her and he returned it to his side, slowly. "You're still mad at me," he repeated slowly, looking at her carefully.

She nodded, too drained from the night to bother being embarrassed. Earlier, it had been impossible to pry out the information that she had thought that this was a date and it had taken everything she had to stop herself from crying when he had told her differently. Now, she was too tired to care.

"I wasn't aware that you were ever mad at me."

There was no response, save her looking down at her shoes.

He nodded, almost as if he had expected it. "Okay, c'mon, we're almost there." And with that, the tugging resumed as they made their way down a half overgrown concrete path to an unknown destination. It was too dark for Rory to make out where they were going but Logan seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

They stopped again but this time Rory was ready and refrained from stumbling. He was watching her from the corner of his eye, she could tell, but she ignored it. "It's a wall," she said slowly. "You made me leave your nice, warm house to come outside and stare at a wall."

He rolled his eyes and let go of her elbow to dig around through his pocket, finally pulling out his keychain. It took him a minute for him to locate the correct key and then he pushed it into a keyhole that Rory had not noticed until that moment. Unlocking the camouflaged gate, Logan pushed it open, revealing a dark, fenced area.

"What is this?" Rory asked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness a little.

Logan grinned at her. "This," he said, gesturing with an arm to include everything in the area, "is my childhood."

She raised an eyebrow. "Your childhood?"

He nodded and held out his hand. After a second of hesitation, she took his hand in hers and interlaced their fingers. A smile spread across her face and, when she snuck a sidelong glance at the man beside her, she noticed that he was smiling too. Her eyes took in everything around her, from the trampoline, to the wood playhouse, to the small weedy pond and she grinned.

She turned to look at him, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I don't understand."

"My parents," he started, "got my sister and me everything that we wanted when we were younger. The trampoline is from Honor's gymnastic days, the pond is from when I decided that I was going to become a goldfish farmer-"

"A goldfish farmer?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I was like six at the time. I also wanted to be an astronaut and a firefighter."

"What, not Superman?" she teased.

"That was when I was eight," he retorted, taking a step closer to her.

She took a step back before surveying the yard. "I don't get it. Why is everything out here? If you were young at the time, wouldn't your parents want to keep an eye on you by having this stuff closer to the house?"

Logan shrugged, not showing the hurt that had come when she had taken a step back. "The trampoline was predominant in our backyard for a while but then Honor quit gymnastics and rarely used it so it was moved back here. Eventually everything else was moved back here to let my mom have the yard that she had always wanted." He paused for a second. "Except for the pond. It was always out here."

Rory nodded solemnly. "Because you can't move a pond," she agreed.

They shared a smile; staring at each other a moment too long before Logan cleared his throat and looked away.

"C'mon!" he called, letting go of Rory's hand and jogging towards the trampoline. He hopped on effortlessly and began jumping up and down.

Rory laughed, walking towards it calmly. She leaned against the cool metal and watched Logan act like a little kid again. She liked seeing him like this.

He paused for a second, gesturing for her to come up. "C'mon Ace, when was the last time you were on a trampoline?"

She laughed again. "I don't remember but I'm wearing a dress. I can't jump in a dress."

He rolled his eyes and dropped to his knees. "It's only me and you here. No one will see you trampolining it up in a dress."

There was a pause. "'Trampolining'?"

He rolled his eyes again. "It's a word."

"No it's not," she said, shaking her head and laughing. Her laughter turned into a surprised shriek as Logan pulled her up and on to the trampoline in one smooth motion.

He grinned at her and she tried to scowl back but somehow it had turned into a smile by the time it reached her face. They stretched out on the cool black material, looking up at the stars for a minute and everything was still.

"I didn't mean to say that this wasn't a date." Logan spoke quietly and turned his head towards the brunette beside him.

"So why did you?" Rory didn't turn to look at him instead her gaze was steady on the sky above. Inwardly, she smiled slightly, glad to know that there was a reason behind his words.

"Because I didn't want a party at my parent's house to be our first date." He willed her to look at him, to see the sincerity in his eyes.

Rory sighed. "It's not the place that matters, it's the people."

"And the people here are lame."

She laughed slightly, turning to face the blond. "I mean that if you hadn't said that this wasn't a date, then everything would have worked out fine. It wouldn't have mattered where it was."

He sat up slightly, causing Rory to jostle slightly as the trampoline moved. "And so everything didn't turn out fine?" he asked, looking at her intently.

Rory pretended to mull it over. "Well, I suppose if you buy me ice cream on the way home, everything will be fine."

Logan laughed and started to sit up to get off of the trampoline. "We better get going then."

"No!" Rory protested grabbing his hand and pulling him back down. "Let's just lay here a while."

He smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple and leaned back on his elbows. It seemed that maybe everything worked out in the end. And as she leaned up to press a kiss to his lips, there was no way he would change their first date at all.

It was them and it was perfect.


End file.
